‘Everything I wanted was offered to me. But I felt nothing’: singer Self Esteem on stardom, self-doubt, and making it in a man’s world

Self Esteem: ‘I can’t say boo to a goose, but I will say it in a song.’ Photograph: Rosaline Shahnavaz/The Guardian

Three years ago, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, also known as the pop star Self Esteem, released her second album, Prioritise Pleasure. It delivered her dreams on a glittering platter. It topped end-of-year lists, was named the Guardian’s album of the year, got nominated for a Brit award and the Mercury music prize, put her on high-profile radio playlists, sent her to the West End, where she starred in Cabaret, and secured her appearances on TV shows that she’d always dreamed of doing. At the end of it all, she headlined a stadium, in her home town of Sheffield. And then?

“I got so fucking pissed off and miserable and depressed and crazy.”