Self Esteem ‘worried’ privilege gap getting wider within music industry

Alternative singer Self Esteem has said she is “worried” that the privilege gap is getting wider within the music industry.

Despite having launched her solo career nearly a decade ago, the singer, born Rebecca Lucy Taylor, 39, only recently saw her career pick up after securing her first top 10 album in the UK charts for A Complicated Woman and winning the visionary award at the 2025 Ivors ceremony.

Speaking about the challenges aspiring artists face in the industry and her own rise to fame, Taylor told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I sort of sacrificed everything for it.

“It’s harder and harder to be successful in music these days so I’m sort of very grateful that it finally happened.

“It’s harder and harder to get seen and especially at my age and it was all set up to not really end up happening for me.”

The Rotherham-born singer said she was “worried” about how challenging the industry is now for new artists to catch their big break.

“There’s no money in music. I had to have jobs because I couldn’t just focus on music.

“All those things, social, cultural benefits that a lot of other artists have, I didn’t have.

“It just means to get good you have to do it a lot and that’s the bit I worry about.

“People with privilege don’t have to work and can just devote their time to it and they can be unsuccessful for a long time before getting there.

“That gap is getting wider because the industry can’t give you the money to live off, to cultivate your art and get better.”

The star began her career as one half of the indie duo Slow Club, and featured on The Strangle Of Anna by The Moonlandingz, before launching her solo career under the stage name Self Esteem in 2017.

Over recent years she has also secured roles in the West End including Sally Bowles in a production of Cabaret in 2023 and from Monday will star in David Hare’s play Teeth ‘n’ Smiles.