Bookies tip winner of Mercury Prize 2022 will be Sheffield's-own Self Esteem

After a stunning year with performances at Glastonbury and returning to her home city for Tramlines, Rebecca Lucy Taylor is now the bookies’ favourite to win the UK’s most prestigious music award.

The 35-year-old Rotherham-born artist is riding a career-high wave of popularity following on the success of her 2021 album ‘Prioritise Pleasure’, with her single ‘I Do This All The Time’ appearing on several critics’ lists of top songs for that year.

Now, ‘Prioritise Pleasure’ is tipped to win the Mercury Prize 2022 at the awards night on Thursday (September 8).

Aggregate bookies’ website Oddschecker says Self Esteem currently has 9/4 of clinching the prize (as of September 7).

She is closely followed by Little Simz’ ‘Sometimes I Might be Introvert’ at 3-1, then Wet Leg’s self-titled debut album at 9-2.

Speaking about her nomination, Self Esteem told music news site NME: “I’m not being coy, but I can’t believe what’s happened. “I’d really made my peace with being consistently underground and under-dogged. Something has happened where people have connected to [the album]. It’s still kind of a slow-burn and slowly growing – it’s not like my life has changed overnight – but my greatest joy is making music.”

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, known as Self Esteem, grew up in Rotherham and has performed in bands since the age of 18.

Formerly one half of Sheffield band Slow Club, Taylor released her first track under the nom de plume Self Esteem in 2017, going on to release her debut album, ‘Compliments Please’, in 2019.

This year, her appearance at Glastonbury – in an eye-popping corset and cape modelled after Sheffield’s Meadowhall Shopping Centre – was critically praised as one of the best of the weekend.

She was welcomed home at Tramlines 2022, where fans applauded at T’Other Stage applauded the artist and her entourage for a straight minute following her performance of ‘I Do This All the Time’.

The Mercury Prize 2022 ceremony will be broadcast on BBC Four from 9pm-10.15pm on Thursday (September 8), as well as on BBC Radio 6 Music from 7pm-midnight.