Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“My hunger times my impatience makes me feel reckless,” Self Esteem, aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor, sang on her breakthrough album, 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure. Both hunger and impatience were fuelled by a frustrating stint in indie-folk duo Slow Club, which formed in Sheffield in 2006, the year Taylor turned 20. After they split in 2017, she relaunched herself as Self Esteem with a boldly maximalist sound and no-holds-barred songcraft. “Keep lyrics uncomfortable” is one of her slogans.A Complicated Woman is her third solo album. It was launched with a stage show at a West End theatre earlier this month, watched by an admiring Madonna. The recording budget has become larger, enabling access to the orchestral players and backing singers that she could not afford before. Her artistic opportunities have also expanded. In 2023 she diversified into musical theatre, playing the part of Sally Bowles in the London production of Cabaret. Later this year she is due to publish a book about female identity.Exasperation at being held back, mostly by men, both professionally and personally, lies behind her renaissance as Self Esteem. “I deserve to be here,” she declares on the album’s lead single, “Focus Is Power”. Such assertions at times lapse into self-help platitudes, as when she is joined by a female choir to chant, “Whatever is right for you will guide you through,” on overcooked anthem “If Not Now, It’s Soon”. But she can also be a trenchant lyricist, with a wittily unsentimental eye for foibles — her own and other people’s.Album cover of ‘A Complicated Woman’ She is joined as co-writer and producer by her regular collaborator Johan Hugo (of the band The Very Best). “I Do and I Don’t Care” is an underwhelming opener, with a spoken-word passage about disillusionment and keeping on going as the string players saw away portentously at their violins. “Mother” is better, a sleek electropop kiss-off to emotionally immature romantic partners. “The Curse” makes fine use of the orchestral resources with arms-out, singalong verses about Taylor’s love-hate relationship with alcohol.The tone variously shifts from house music with a coolly comical checklist of sexual positions (“69”) to a cappella gospel singing about healing (“What Now”). Guests include South African singer Moonchild Sanelly, UK indie-rocker Nadine Shah and former Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh. The album’s scope is ambitious and the performances are strong, but it lacks the sharpness of its predecessors.★★★☆☆‘A Complicated Woman’ is released by Polydor
