English Teacher have told NME about the “concrete validation” they received with their Mercury Prize win and have teased their new music will be “better”.
The Leeds band won last year’s prize with their debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’ and were on hand at this year’s ceremony last night (October 16) at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, where Sam Fender beat out competition from the likes of Pulp, CMAT, Wolf Alice, Fontaines D.C. and Pa Salieu.
English Teacher’s victory last year saw them beat albums such as Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ and The Last Dinner Party’s ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ to take home the prestigious award, and on the red carpet this year, the band brought us up to date on how the win has impacted them in the past 12 months and the current status of their much-anticipated follow-up.
Guitarist Lewis Whiting explained that it was “quite nice knowing there’s no chance we have to go up and say an unprepared speech” this time around.
Reflecting on the win, he said: “I think it restarted the album cycle that we’re on. I felt like we were really busy, but post that, it kind of really continued until about now. Give or take, we’ve been on tour since then, it’s been a mental year. It’s making me reflect a lot on the past 12 months really, it’s been mad.”
Drummer Douglas Frost added: “And having a concrete validation like that does give you a sense of confidence, which does go a long way.”
Asked if it all adds more pressure on their second album, frontwoman Lily Fontaine said: “I think that will always be there, regardless. We want what we’re writing to come out next to be better. But there’s a history, isn’t there, of the Mercury curse.”
“I think it’s got to come from internally, hasn’t it, because you worry too much about all this and that and you’ll dig yourself into a hole,” Whiting added.
On the current status of the record, bassist Nicholas Eden said: “We’ve thrown our ideas at each other a bit and we’re getting there slowly.”
Last week, the band released the remix album, ‘This Could Be A Remix Album’, featuring contributions from Fontaines D.C., Working Men’s Club, Sherelle, Daniel Avery, Water From Your Eyes and Baxter Dury.
“It’s just surreal for me, personally,” Fontaine said about the record. “I really enjoy a lot of the songs, I thought what came back was really eclectic. It’s nice to hear the songs that we wrote as danceable tracks as well.”
“It’s kind of crazy hearing something that you created being put through someone else’s head,” added Whiting. “A lot of them I didn’t expect to sound like that.”
English Teacher were the first Mercury winners from outside London since 2014, and this year’s ceremony was the first ever to be held outside the capital, a shift that the band fully support.
“We’ve talked about this quite a bit before,” said Fontaine. “Obviously, the music industry is important for many different reasons, but the thing is, if you don’t have lots of different kinds of people making art, it’s all going to become monotonous, I think. And then, if it’s monotonous, it’s shit. It’s important that there are so many different perspectives outside of London.”
NME awarded ‘This Could Be Texas’ the full five stars on its release in 2024, noting: “What you have in ‘This Could Be Texas’ is everything you want from a debut; a truly original effort from start to finish, an adventure in sound and words, and a landmark statement. Poised for big things? Who knows if this industry even allows that anymore. Here are a band already dealing in brilliance, though – who dare to dream and have it pay off. Not everyone gets to go to space, but at least English Teacher make it a damn site more interesting being stuck down here.”
NME also spoke to Fontaines D.C. at the ceremony about the “witch hunt” against Kneecap and the police’s handling of Palestine protests, as well as Wolf Alice, who were nominated for a record-equalling fourth time., and Pulp, who revealed they are “not itching” to make a follow-up to this year’s ‘More’.
Sam Fender was crowned the winner of the 2025 Mercury Prize for his third album, ‘People Watching’. He thanked “very good friends” Fontaines D.C. and CMAT during his acceptance speech, saying that he was in “great company” on the shortlist.
In the winner’s room afterwards, Fender added: “We didn’t think we were going to win anything so I’m still in shock. It’s an absolute honour and it’s amazing it’s happened up here, for the first time outside of London. I think it’s a really important thing that’s happened right now in the music industry – I think it’s great.”