Tom wanted to explore that theme because of his own experience, particularly during the pandemic. Whereas Black Country Disco charted the dissolution of a romantic relationship, Life in Plastic deals with the painful and tricky topic of losing friendships. I might come across as materialistic, but I feel like I’m really not a materialistic person at all.” I’m not going to name any names, obviously, but there seems to be quite an obsession with a celebrity lifestyle and a flashy way of existing and I’m really not interested in that. It really rings true about how I feel about a lot of people.
“Something about the verse in ‘Millionaire’ resonated with me considering what my situation is currently. When he started writing Life in Plastic, he listened to some old demos for inspiration so he could get a sense of the journey he had been on as an artist. That sounds really silly looking back but that’s what it was.” “It was a throwaway pop song about not wanting to be a flashy millionaire. He ended up rewriting it for Life in Plastic. Tom explores those themes in “Millionaire”, a song that was originally written more than a decade ago, but shelved. “I present myself to the world as this pop star, but the reality is that I do live at home with my parents and I do everything myself, even though it doesn’t look like I do,” he says. Most of the time, people are projecting an image of themselves to the world that’s different from reality. Tom was eager to explore the differences in the way he presents himself to the world and what the reality is actually like. The reality is that I do live at home with my parents and I do everything myself.