Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure Review

Mercury Awards have a poor grasp on time. Whether Sam Fender and Self Esteem should have received nominations for albums that came out last year, this year, is beside the point. They are two of many great artists that settled into their respective works well and have managed to shine on. Self Esteem’s sophomore solo album, Prioritise Pleasure, is intense and extremely engaged with its electropop roots. So much so that they take over almost entirely. Opening track I’m Fine is, well, just that. Prioritise Pleasure opens with a calming and resistant track of self-worth, and it sounds absolutely okay. It is the lyrical presence that guides that track through, as it does for many of the albums throughout.

I’m Fine is a worrying piece, similar to that of Boys Will Be Boys, a catchy track that doubles over on itself to make sure there is absolutely no way of missing the point. There is a tenderness to that but also a lack of respect for the focus of the listener. Lyrics are on hand to tell the audience, as clear as they are, are still not trusted enough to deliver the message. Fucking Wizardry has the opposite problem, its elegance comes from its electropop charms and instrumental charms. A balance of self-respect and warning signs being clearly ignored, with a stunningly good chorus gives way to a middling track. Hobbies 2 picks up that consistent pace, and Prioritise Pleasure soon finds comfort in the instrumentals it continually relies on, but fails to expand.

Catchy at times, Prioritise Pleasure’s greatest trouble is managing a line between the similarity of tracks and the consistency of its message. It provides the latter through repetition and hopes the former is not an issue. It is. I Do This All The Time has a spoken-word charm to it that leans further into the alt-pop, contemporary R&B mentalities that Prioritise Pleasure manages so well. Empowerment as a message is strong, but fifteen tracks of barely wavering material that focuses on that shows a lack of depth and variety more than it does a positive and license for individuality. Ironic it may be that individuality is promoted through replica tracks, Self Esteem does so with a genuine bit of courage and charm throughout.

Big, bright and packed with perfect messages relaying imperfection as the next step forward. Reassurance of the musical variety for those that need it. Prioritise Pleasure never moves on from that, it has the potential to do so, but finds comfort in some excellent work on the title track and a few snippets later into the album. Even then, that title track has the similarities of Fucking Wizardry, an empowerment that almost always draws itself back to social media woes and a new representation of how to use it. John Elton does just the same. Interesting and well-worked, but never in need of repeating so often throughout this promising but deflated piece. Nothing terrible, nothing grand, just a few bits of electropop charm with an inoffensive and sincere message told with clarity, very, very often, overtaking the chance for any other layer of commentary to push through.