As she returns with A Complicated Woman – her powerful follow-up to the Mercury Prize-nominated Prioritise Pleasure – Self Esteem has shared her reflections on the state of the modern pop industry, as part of a new interview with Hot Press.

When asked whether she feels society –  and the music industry in particular – is getting any better at understanding and accepting ‘complicated women’, the artist also known as Rebecca Lucy Taylor responded:

“I don’t know. I felt like it was, a few years ago. But obviously the world is turning in this way again, where misogyny is quite fashionable for some types of people.”

Tying in with that, some would argue, there appears to be a renewed focus on “being pretty and thin” in mainstream pop once again.

“There’s been a few successful female artists that look really ‘good’ – and the music industry’s like, ‘Phew! Thank God for that!’” Rebecca said of the current pop landscape. “And I say ‘good’, but I mean that they’re hitting the male gaze really well.

“So we’ll see,” she continued. “It felt like a diverse, inclusive page was turning a few years ago. This might be me being glass-half-empty, but it feels like it’s gone back a little bit. But that doesn’t mean we should stop. We should keep fighting, everyday. Any bit of resilience and resistance is good.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Self Esteem reflects on success, self-doubt, the future, and the journey to her acclaimed new album.

Read the full interview in the current issue of Hot Press – out now.