The 1975’s Polly Money on new EP ‘T-Shirt Nothing Else’ and “bucket list” Glastonbury 2025 headline slot: “It’s a dream come true”

Polly Money has spoken to NME about her new EP ‘T-Shirt Nothing Else’, touring as a member of The 1975, and what’s next as the band prepare for their huge headline slot at Glastonbury 2025.

• READ MORE: The 1975 live in London: a celebration amidst online furore

The singer-songwriter joined Matty Healy and co. on their ambitious 18-month ‘At Their Very Best’ and ‘Still… At Their Very Best’ tours in support of the band’s latest album, 2022’s ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’. Contributing vocals and guitar, Money augmented the live shows alongside three other musicians in addition to the four core ’75 members.

Her parts in the theatrical and often meta performances proved popular with fans. She took on lead vocals on ‘Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America’ – the original of which features Phoebe Bridgers – and duetted with Healy on a reworking of ‘A Change Of Heart’. A standout and viral moment came courtesy of her solo verse in heartbreaker ballad ‘About You’.

Still, Money said that she experienced imposter syndrome and niggling feelings of insecurity while out on the road. This inspired her ‘T-Shirt…’ single ‘Anything’ (“I’m not even that good at it, I just got lucky/ But they say that I deserve it / But that ain’t the way that I feel about/ I feel ’bout anything“).

“It actually took me quite a long time to overcome it,” she told NME. “I was just telling myself that I deserved to be in that position. I gave my all to that show. I just tried to believe my own encouragement and support. There is a huge amount of luck in all of this. Every gig I get to play, I feel grateful for it.”

Released last Friday (March 21), Money’s latest EP sees her navigating “the complexities of love, longing and self-discovery” across five tracks. The coming-of-age project blends R&B influences with indie-pop, while showcasing a rawer side of her sound on the tender title track.

“I really loved the vulnerability of it and the intimacy of that one line [‘T-shirt, nothing else/ She holds me from behind‘],” Money explained. “I love having interludes and short little musical sections that just catch your attention. I didn’t really put a huge amount of thought into it. I just loved the line, and I was like, ‘That’s what I want it to be’.”

She told NME that the introspective, electronic-acoustic hybrid ’30 Minutes’ “had never intended to be single-y at all”. However, she was surprised to see that fans were “really loving it” and it had earned some radio play. “We just released it with the EP thinking it would do nothing, but people are reacting well to it,” Money added.

As for the dreamy break-up cut ‘Milk & Honey’, she spoke about the contrast between the lyrics of the “sad song” and its upbeat, “euphoric” feel.

“I love when lyrics have a completely different tone to the melody of the song,” she explained. “It’s a really nice and interesting way of writing. I find a lot of these things happen quite accidentally, especially with ‘Milk & Honey’. I try and do that quite a bit.”

Money revealed that she was “already working on” her debut studio album, adding that ‘T-Shirt Nothing Else’ “sets the tone” for what’s to come next.

“It’s so exciting ’cause it’s the first time I’ve ever written an album and done that process,” she told NME. “It’s really nice in the stage I’m at, ’cause I can really put the time into it. There’s definitely a few elements and genres I want to incorporate onto the album that aren’t on the EP. But it’s definitely a tone setter, for sure.

“I’m a big R&B lover. In some of my earlier stuff, you can hear bits of that creeping in, whereas the EP is still very much indie-pop.” She cited Haim as “huge references”, praising the LA trio’s ability “in blending those two very different genres and making it work”. Her influences include Dijon, MUNA, and ’75’s Dirty Hit labelmates The Japanese House and Beabadoobee.

Money expressed her desire to “do a full-on R&B album” later in her career. “Some people have described my voice as kind of leaning a little bit towards the R&B world,” she said. “I’d love to incorporate more R&B into my production.”

@h1trewind

“About You” by the 1975 with Polly Money her voice is beautiful : @bochaatt #PopMusic #the1975 #mattyhealy1975 #mattyhealyedit #mattyhealylive #pollymoney #music #newmusic #concert #livemusic #the1975tour

♬ What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture “Barbie”] – Billie Eilish

When asked how touring with The 1975 had influenced her work, she responded: “So much of that tour had inspired and motivated me and bled into my music – both consciously and unconsciously. It’s hard to be around a band that good – and I can say that because I have nothing to do with the songs they write; I’m a fan as well as play for them – and not be inspired. It gave me a lot of lessons in songwriting, playing those songs and getting really deep into them every night.

“I always just thought they were great. When I started playing for them, it was just an absolute joy to play those songs. Live music is my favourite – it’s where I feel most at home. It was just amazing to be on a tour for that long and never get bored of the music. You end up seeing and feeling the songs differently when you are in the band. The headline for me is: I just never got bored. I just absolutely loved it every night.”

Money told NME that she’d been “really lucky” to have gained new followers of her own off the back of The 1975’s tour. “The fans are so dedicated to the band,” she explained. “In few of the band’s songs, there’s some female parts, and I ended up taking them over. So the fans sort of found my music through those bits of the show. And now a few of them follow me – which is really, really cool. I didn’t really expect that, being a session musician. I really appreciate it all.”

Reflecting on ‘At Their Very Best’, she recalled how her “responsibilities became more and more” as the dates went on, “especially towards the end”.

Money continued: “I was incredibly lucky with that. With the way the stage was set out, all four of us session musicians had a spotlight almost. It felt like a whole family on stage. It definitely added to the show and added to all of our performances – because you really feel a part of the band, which is great.”

Money will join The 1975 when they headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2025 this summer, having previously performed solo on the festival’s BBC Introducing Stage. “Oh wow,” she said when asked about the massive upcoming slot. “It is honestly a dream come true. It’s very much a bucket list gig for me – I still feel like it’s not real. I think it’s going to be an incredible experience – best night of my life, I bet.”

The artist told NME that she’d be “switching back into session mode soon” for Glasto, but remained tight-lipped as to what fans could expect: “I have a few ideas of what’s gonna go down. Obviously, it’s nothing to do with me – that’s kind of all the boys. But yeah, preparations are definitely underway. We’re hearing little snippets of stuff. It’s very exciting.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Money (@pollymoney)

But for now, Money is “fully back into solo mode” as she looks ahead to her biggest headline show yet at Oslo Hackney in London. “It’s proving [to be] a lot of fun,” she told NME.

“I’d like to play a few songs that might be a surprise to some of the fans. How we’re going to curate the show and setlist is going to be really thought out. We’re doing that right now. There’s going to be quite a lot of peaks and troughs, and we’re giving the fans what they’d like.

“I played solo for many years, and I’ve always loved doing that. But now I’ve got a bassist and a drummer, who are incredible, and it’s really elevated my sound. I felt for a long time I hadn’t quite got it right with a band, even though I had some great musicians on stage with me. Whereas [now] we’ve done a bunch of gigs and worked really hard to make the new band setup work. It’s sounding good.”

Money went on to tease another potential solo gig before Glastonbury, ahead of a small UK headline tour this autumn. “We’re in the midst of organising that right now,” she told NME.

“I would love to be touring quite a bit – that’s always a big one for me. I’d like to write and release the first album and see how that gets received. I’ll hopefully support a few people on bigger tours, and just build it every time. I always end up talking about the live side of things more than anything else, but that’s really what I want to do. I want to be a touring musician for myself and others, so that’s the plan. There’s no ceiling on it.”

Polly Money’s ‘T-Shirt Nothing Else’ EP is out now. She plays Oslo Hackney in London on Saturday May 3 (buy tickets here). The 1975 headline Glastonbury 2025 on Friday June 27. 

The post The 1975’s Polly Money on new EP ‘T-Shirt Nothing Else’ and “bucket list” Glastonbury 2025 headline slot: “It’s a dream come true” appeared first on NME.