SELF ESTEEM + PHOEBE GREEN + SERAPHINA SIMONE – CHALK, BRIGHTON 3.3.22
Tonight at Chalk is the Brighton leg of Self Esteem’s eagerly awaited (and twice rescheduled) ‘Prioritise Pleasures’ sold-out tour. And it’s a night all about female solidarity, support, and mutual respect. The night covers many subjects from toxic relationships, mental health, violence against women, the American dream and society’s expectations to name but a few. All delivered with honesty, humour and an almost autobiographical perspective.
The night opens with Seraphina Simone.
Small in-frame and with no glamourous stage costumes, her dreamy rhythmic synth is layered below beautiful powerful vocals. Sugar-sweet catchy pop with an effortlessly dynamic vocal range and cleverly crafted vocals that hints to the start of what is likely to be a wonderful journey.
Check out more on Spotify and at www.seraphinasimone.com
Phoebe Green’s, reverb-drenched vocals and spacey keys become one beautiful choral soundscape flooding the room with a summer breeze. Half spoken, half-sung lyrics reminiscent of Porridge Radio and songs with twists and turns, catchy pop hooks give us a taster of what Phoebe Green is about. It’s smart, captivating and bubbly, both musically and visually, with coordinating orange curls and outfit, and leaves the audience wanting far, far more.
You can catch Phoebe again in Brighton when she appears as part of The Great Escape in May.
Phoebe Green setlist:
‘Grit’
‘Lucky Me’
‘So Grown Up’
‘Make It Easy’
‘Sweat’
‘DIE DIE DIE’
‘Reinvent’
‘IDK’
Check out more on Spotify and at phoebe-green.ffm.to/icantcryforyou
Rebecca Taylor has really found herself after stepping out on her own from Indie duo Slow Club…Tonight’s show is a delight for both ears and eyes.
Visually, it’s both sophisticated and stylish – taking the masculine cut of a suit and adding the femininity of a basque. Rebecca and her all-female backing vocalists and dancers perfectly deliver the quality of carefully crafted choreography which we would expect from far bigger productions, with the spectacle definitely adding to rather than distracting from the impeccably delivered vocals.
From the onset Rebecca serves up a wonderfully relaxed, confident and heart-gratifying performance. Lyrically she is not afraid to open her soul, talking about uncomfortable subjects but delivering her messages with an honesty, humour, and individuality which at once connects her to and strikes a chord with the audience. And, of course it goes without saying that she delivers gorgeous vocals, and a catchy pop chorus to make up the full package.
International Women’s Day may be a week away but it’s every day that Rebecca performs and pushes out her message of feminine solidarity.
The set opens on a high with ‘I’m Fine’ and simply goes from strength to strength.
By the time we get to the closing song before the encore, ‘I Do This All The Time’, with its spoken lyrics and poignant chorus, “…be strong, you didn’t think you’d live this long…” the audience are a unified, euphoric, singing and dancing sweaty mass.
Rebecca is pure star quality, but it also feels like you’re listening to a close friend recounting a personal journey through the medium of confident, uplifting catchy pop, which strikes home lyrically.
Potent and empowering – this is art-pop at its absolute best.
Self Esteem setlist:
‘I’m Fine’
‘F*cking Wizardry’
‘Hobbies 2’
‘Prioritise Pleasure’
‘Girl Crush’
‘Favourite Problem’
‘(Hobbies)’
‘How Can I Help You’
‘Moody’
‘You Forever’
‘In Time’
‘The 345’
‘Just Kids’ (acoustic)
‘I Do This All The Time’
(encore)
‘Still Reigning’
‘The Best’
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