Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka Self Esteem has kicked off the campaign for a new album with the release of a brilliant new single called “I Do This All The Time”. She says:
“All my upcoming work is exploring how complicated it is to just be a human. I’m wonderful and i’m terrible. i hurt people and people hurt me. i feel everything and nothing. It’s a shit laugh but then it can be quite jolly can’t it. The video is the first chance to spot one of the many easter eggs for Self Esteem purists as well as the rather on the nose metaphor of me hugging myself – much like elton john in the movie rocket man does. enjoy!”
You can understand why she’s referred to it as “Sunscreen for Millennials” (referencing the Baz Luhrmann cultural oddity for those of you too young to remember), as it finds her in spoken-word mode over retro beats that seem to have been transported from the 90s, but sound fresh in Spring 2021. This space leaves her plenty of room to reel off a series of personal problems, observations and admissions, each as cuttingly observed and delivered as the one before, reminiscent of both Jenny Hval and Dry Cleaning’s Flo Shaw – but with her own personality and experiences deeply embedded in them. There’s also solidarity to be found in her honesty, which will resonate with everyone who finds modern expectations a lot to handle. Just to sugar the cake, there’s injections of choral affirmations: “look up, lean back, be strong / you didn’t think you’d live this long”, and it’s even rounded off by a sweeping string section that really puts the cherry on top of this stunner.
Watch the video for “I Do This All The Time”, directed by Rebecca herself, below, or listen to it on streaming platforms.
There should be news on a new album from Self Esteem soon, for now follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. She’s also going on this tour:
