Ivor Novello Award-winning singer-songwriter and actor Self Esteem has announced a new headline show in Cardiff next summer.
Hailed as one of the UK’s most exciting breakout stars of the past decade Self Esteem, aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor, will play TK Maxx presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle on Friday July 24. Special guest will be songwriter, poet, playwright and recording artist Kae Tempest.
Rebecca Lucy Taylor is set to enter 2026 as a bona fide triple threat in music, literature and acting – following this year’s release of her hugely acclaimed third album and debut book, both titled A Complicated Woman.
The album’s lead single Focus Is Power was the soundtrack to the BBC’s coverage of the Lionesses’ UEFA European Football Championships victory this summer – a goal Taylor set for the album’s release, to see it used as montage music to major sporting events. And a month after its release, she won the Ivor Novello Awards’ Visionary Award for her genre-defying and fearless songwriting.
Taylor released her debut album as pop star Self Esteem, Compliments Please in 2019, featuring singles The Best and Girl Crush, after a decade as one half of indie duo Slow Club.
Second album Prioritise Pleasure provided Taylor’s breakthrough in 2021, with the huge success of single I Do This All The Time paving the way to Mercury, BRIT and NME award nominations, and The Guardian and Sunday Times naming it their Culture Album Of The Year. She is one of a handful of artists to have been playlisted across BBC Radio 1, 2 and 6 Music simultaneously.
An acclaimed actor, Taylor has appeared in Sky’s Smothered and completed an extended run as Sally Bowles in the multiple Olivier Award-winning production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in the West End. Next year, she will appear in a revival of David Hare’s Teeth ‘n’ Smiles.
Special guest Kae Tempest began their career as a 16-year-old MC busking at bus stops, open mic nights, battles, raves, squat parties, and scrappy festivals.
After a stint in the band Sound of Rum, Kae self-published the poetry collection Everything Speaks In Its Own Way in 2012. That same year, their debut play Wasted opened in London and toured the UK. Meanwhile, their long poem Brand New Ancients, won the Ted Hughes prize and transferred to New York in 2013.
Their first solo recording, the Mercury-Prize-nominated Everybody Down, came in 2014 and they’ve since recorded four more albums, the most recent being this year’s Self-Titled.
To date, they are the only artist who has opened a play at the National Theatre one summer and played Glastonbury festival the next.
The headline show is presented by promoters DEPOT Live and Cuffe and Taylor in collaboration with Clwb Ifor Bach.
Clwb Ifor Bach have worked with Self Esteem on a number of occasions including headline shows at the iconic music venue back in 2019, as well as the Sŵn Festival and later selling out Tramshed in 2023.
Self Esteem joins Jimmy Eat World, Bowling For Soup, Katy Perry, Garbage and Skunk Anansie, Richard Ashcroft, Sex Pistols, MIKA, Two Door Cinema Club and Ethel Cain the headline announcements already revealed for TK Maxx presents DEPOT Live at Cardiff Castle 2026 which is presented by promoters DEPOT Live and Cuffe and Taylor.
DEPOT Live founder Nick Saunders said: “Self Esteem is a really exciting headliner to be welcoming to the castle, and along with special guest Kae Tempest this will be a brilliant night.
“What a massive summer we have lined up for 2026. Self Esteem marks the 18th headline announcement for TK Maxx presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle and we still have more to come.”
