Absolutely has spoken to NME about the fact that she and her sisters RAYE and Amma all performed separately at Reading & Leeds Festival 2026 this weekend.

The 22-year-old experimental pop artist, whose real name is Abby-Lynn Keen, was interviewed backstage at Reading shortly after her performance on the festival’s main stage. “I’m not so used to doing festivals,” she said, explaining that she’s only played a handful so far.

“I don’t know if people are gonna show up,” she added. “I didn’t expect that many people to show up, so it was really surreal. People were singing along and looking so happy. It was really beautiful.”

Although she grew up not far away in London, this was Absolutely’s first-ever visit to Reading Festival – so to perform on the main stage, she said, was “really insane”.

She’d come straight from a meet-and-greet with fans, of which she said: “There were so many lovely people, just saying that they loved seeing me live, and came and saw me on different tours, opening for ReneĂ© Rapp and my sister, RAYE. People were saying they love my world and my fashion and things like that. Some people made little outfits to resemble my stage looks, which was so cute.”

Asked if that inspired her for future projects, Absolutely replied: “It feels like everything I’m doing is not in vain. It feels like it’s appreciated and understood and people really care about it. It gives me more reason to wanna keep creating.”

The singer also reflected on her eclectic second album, ‘Paracosm’, which was released in February: “It really started from me separating myself from thinking and creating from a logical perspective, or trying to craft a song that people are gonna like. I was creating from more of a place of, ‘What do I enjoy creating?’ [I was] playing. That was the concept of the album.”

“Somebody commented on my YouTube, ‘She is my ‘Paracosm’. For some reason, I felt drawn to that word. I don’t know why. I searched what it meant
 It basically just means fantastical worlds, places and characters that you create as a child that extend through to your adulthood. So that was the place that I was in when I was creating the album – really trying to look through the lens of childlike wonder.

“Because when I was a child, I wasn’t thinking about anything when I was creating – I was just doing it. I was just playing. There were no boundaries, no rules, no consequences.”

Asked if that fan knew that they’d inspired her second album, Absolutely replied: “I don’t know, actually!” She then turned to the camera to address the commenter: “You titled my album.”

The interview took place a few hours before RAYE headlined the main stage and shortly after Amma appeared on the Canopy stage.

Absolutely revealed that she and RAYE had attended Amma’s show: “It was so wholesome… She did amazing, and I was seeing RAYE up on the sidelines for my set, and we’ve all been hanging out. It’s been really lovely.”

Absolutely at Reading Festival 2026. Credit: Folayosade

Of their musical family, she said: “My dad was the one who introduced music to the household. He loves producing and writing songs. He taught us all how to write songs. And then my mum was always playing church music in the house, gospel music. We were always singing, my dad playing the piano [and singing] harmonies. It was just second nature in our house.”

Asked what’s next for her creatively, she explained: “Next is figuring out what the next musical world is, which I’m stepping into now, and it’s exciting to be back in the studio again. And thinking about what an Absolutely tour would look like, which is exciting. And designing more clothes.”

Reading 2026 continues today with performances from Holly Humberstone, Westside Cowboy, Loyle Carner, Violet Grohl, Florence + the Machine and Kneecap – plus a secret set from Lola Young.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading & Leeds 2026.

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