Lincolnshire singer Holly Humberstone, now London-based, was awarded the Brit for Rising Star in 2022. A UK Top 5 album followed, Paint My Bedroom Black. But her second album, Cruel World, will showcase what long-term following she’s developed, via her support slots with Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Sam Fender. Well, things don’t go anywhere too unexpected but, by the same token, she knows her way around a honeyed hook.
Humberstone is, at her best, a fine lyricist, telling stories, usually of angsty, youthful love, longing and break-up, with an evocative literate snappiness. “I think I need you like a teenager needs weed,” she sings on the likeable, electro-acoustic pulsing opener “Make It All Better”, while on the woozily euphoric “Drunk Dialling” she’s “working on my impression of someone who barely ever misses you”.
Musically, with co-creators Rob Milton and Jonah Summerfield, she embraces a polished palette that mingles acoustic guitar and piano songwriting with electronic boost, and a pinch of easy listening kitsch. She ranges across sunny Balearica, maximalist pop and, on the album’s most enlivening song, “White Noise”, a Weeknd-ish synthy dancefloor direction. Other songs of note include the show tune-like, closing whopper “Beauty Pageant” and the indie-tinted lushness of “Die Happy”.
With her girl-ish voice, her manner of enunciation, her personalized, specific wordage, and the smooth but sassy tone throughout, she reminds strongly of Taylor Swift. But she has enough projected persona and musical adventurousness to ride out from under that giant shadow. Happily, about two-thirds of the time, she also has the songs
Below: Watch Holly Humberstone and her band play "Die Happy" live
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