Self Esteem at Duke of York’s Theatre review: a true one-of-a-kind

When Rebecca Lucy Taylor released 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure - her second solo album as Self Esteem following a decade already in the industry - the record became a lightning rod for an entire generation of women, fed up of being told who and how they should be and ready for a pop star who could soundtrack the alternative. Prioritise Pleasure became more than an album, it became a cultural moment - propelling Taylor from relative indie obscurity to magazine covers and the mainstream stage.

Rather than a classic difficult second (or in this case, third) album, Self Esteem’s next moves have had an even more impossible bar set for them. Lightning, as they say, rarely strikes twice. However, debuting forthcoming third LP A Complicated Woman last night with a wildly ambitious new live show - part gig, part theatre, and taking over the West End’s Duke of York’s for four nights so as to cement the framing - Taylor dispelled any fears in one meticulously-crafted set piece.