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Photos by Deanie Chen

Holly Humberstone has been consistently proving herself as one of pop’s greatest storytellers and with the reception of this year’s sophomore record, Cruel World, it’s clearer than ever. Today, she expands the beloved era with her first deluxe: the free-spirited 5 track extension Cruel World…So It Ends. The new additions add a playful confidence that compliment the standard record’s exploration of how our past, present, and future selves collide. 

“I feel like a different person every day.”, Humberstone shared with OnesToWatch. In the complete 17 track story, listeners can use her brilliantly written accounts as a guide to the ever-changing human experience, helping us better understand our own path. We caught up with the shining star to unpack the journey of making her first deluxe record, creating a visual world around it, and of course, which up-and-coming artists she’s most excited about right now: 

OnesToWatch: For those of us who’ve been listening to your music since Falling Asleep At The Wheel, it’s been so fun to see it evolve into your own take on “dance pop”. Would the version of Holly just starting out be surprised by the genre jump?

Holly Humberstone: I've always loved so many different genres of music. I feel the best way to stay inspired is to listen to as much [music] as possible. At the time [of making the deluxe] I was listening to a lot of ABBA, which is amazing music that just makes you feel so good. 

I probably did think that I would always be making grungy, bedroom sounding pop. But, the cool thing about getting to make music and being creative is that what you make changes and evolves with you. Being a young person, I feel like a different person every day. I'm constantly trying to define myself. Songwriting is a really cool way of discovering who you are in different forms. It’s been really fun to reach the realization that I can make what I want and just let it go where it wants to go. People connect to my personal, autobiographical lyrics. So as long as I don't lose sight of that, I can experiment and make music that sounds different. 

Who are some artists that inspired you to experiment with the genre?

The Weeknd. I love pop songs that feel classic and timeless, with choruses that encapsulate a very simple message but phrase it in a way that it hasn't been said before. There's just something very satisfying about those songs, like Post Malone’s “Circles”. To me, that's one of the best pop songs of all time. We were also listening to Miley Cyrus “Flowers”. I love that song too. We were just going for it and having fun. Let's make something that sounds like we're crying in the club, having a bad trip, and heartbroken.

This is your first deluxe. Why was a continuation crucial for this record specifically?

It was mainly that I just didn't want to stop writing. Once I finished Cruel World, I loved what I made and was really inspired by it. So I went to Nashville, just for one last Hail Mary, to see if there's anything left to harness. [That’s when] I wrote “White Noise” and knew it needed to be on the album. I also wrote “Silver Sky” and “Too Cute to Be Lonely” in Nashville. It was 2 weeks of being super productive, so happy and inspired. I think you can really hear [in the music] that we were at a point where there were no boundaries. Since we’d finished the album, it felt like we could be free and let it go somewhere that we maybe wouldn't usually go. I like that it offers a bit more of a light, more playful respite from the album.

Do you feel like that's why you put “White Noise” on the album and then saved those songs for the end?

I think subconsciously, yes. “White Noise” fit within the story of Cruel World. It actually felt like the bridging song between “To Love Somebody” and the other end of the spectrum, songs like “Beauty Pageant” and “Die Happy,” which felt a little darker. Starting the deluxe with “Too Cute [To Be Lonely]” feels like the happily ever after…an encore or a celebration of some sort. 

The record starts with “So it starts…”, did you ever toy with making a song or an outro called “So it ends…”? 

The intro [of Cruel World] was the last part of the puzzle. When we wrote “Beauty Pageant”, I knew it had to be the closing song. The album itself has a cyclical quality about it. I wanted it to feel like a globe, where it ends and then starts again. It represents the cycles that we go through in life. I think that life is full of little deaths and rebirths. You lose some stuff along the way, but you also gain so much from these cycles. 

I found this old jewelry box in my childhood bedroom whilst I was trying to pack it all up to leave. I used to treasure this thing and when I pulled it out, it was broken off its hinges. I had forgotten about the girl that was just mesmerized by this spinning ballerina and when I wound it up, she still kind of spun. That’s what “Beauty Pageant” is for me. I felt like that lonely ballerina spinning for a long time, across different periods of my life. I wanted “So it starts…” to feel like you've opened the jewelry box or you've sat down at the start of the show. The orchestra’s tuning up.

Photos by Deanie Chen

I love that you’re keeping the visual world going with the deluxe. How do you approach making visuals?

I always thought the music part is the bit that I'm good at, not the visuals. I always let somebody else steer that part of things. I was halfway through the writing process when I realized that I was writing my favorite shit I've ever made. I live with my older sister and we randomly started brainstorming one night. We were rediscovering little bits and trinkets that used to hold so much weight [in our childhood], old books and ballet programs, my old ballet shoes, pieces of jewelry that I used to treasure as a kid. I was rediscovering all of these lost parts of myself. If I could go back and ask my 11 year old self how I envision my music if I ever got to become a professional artist, I think that it would look and sound exactly like Cruel World. 

It’s so interesting that you say visuals were never in your skill set, because it’s just storytelling. And, to me, you are one of our greatest musical storytellers. 

Thank you so much. That’s really nice. I don't really know why I thought that, because I'm such a visual person. I get some type of synesthesia with music where I can see some songs [visually]. Songs like “Die Happy” feel a little more cinematic. It’s been really special making something with my sister. She's somebody who knows me better than I know myself.

“I used to think that love was just a word / A story made for little boys and girls”, was a lyric from the deluxe that stuck with me. What were some of the love stories you admired as a kid?

As a kid, I wasn't concerned in any way about romantic love. I had a lot of love around me, but it was sisterhood and friendships. I was really obsessed with haunted stories. I remember getting a book of the Grimm short stories and fairy tales for Christmas one year when I was young and just being like, “Oh my god, all of these fairy tales that I've been told were just complete lies.” Those stories are so messed up, but for some reason they were even more fascinating to me. I couldn’t put the book down. I used to love stories like The Wizard of Oz, which was on rotation at our house. Creating Cruel World and building this visual universe around it felt like my own version of one of those stories. Songwriting's always been my way of making sense of everything and trying to understand myself, as well as understanding and connecting to other people. 

There’s a strong sense of confidence in these songs, specifically in “Annihilation.” How did it feel to write confrontationally in this song specifically?

I write songs because I find it quite hard to articulate myself in real life and to have honest conversations with people. I can get my message across in the best way and get my emotions out in their clearest way through writing it into a song. I'm not a very angry person, but “Annihilation” is a very angry song. I kind of surprised myself honestly. It’s about the same situation I wrote “To Love Somebody” about, even though they're very different songs. I was just like, “How dare this piece of shit boy mess with my sister's self-esteem?” It was so fun to write and I feel terrified to put it out. But he deserves to hear it, honestly. I hope he hates it. 

We absolutely needed that.

I needed to write it, honestly. 

I noticed there are a lot of spoken word bridges in the deluxe, which I loved. How do you approach writing those?

It’s very similar to writing lyrics to fit into a melody. When writing all types of songs, there's a very fine line between something that is so incredible and something that is so cringe and embarrassing. I'm constantly walking that line in the studio with my producer Rob. We’re like “Can we do that? Have we gone too far with this?” Especially with the spoken word bridge in “Killing The Mood”. It's already a quite on the nose pop song, so we’re just like, “Fuck it, yeah. We should do it.” I think you can get away with more when it fits into a melody. It has to be good writing if it's going to be standalone. But who am I to say what's good and what isn't?

I ate up every single one of them. 

I did not realize that I did so many until the album was together and I was like, “Oh shit.” I clearly love a little spoken word bridge!

You had things to say!

I did. I really like the prospect of taking it to a live show and switching it up. Maybe changing some bits for different cities or something. It's a part of the song that you can be flexible with and adapt it to different things. 

Finally, who are your OnesToWatch?

Chloe Qisha is my current obsession. I just think she's such a rock star. She's so cool and radiates this confidence that I need more of. Matilda Mann is so underrated, especially her new album Kismet. I think she's an incredible songwriter. 

Listen to ‘Cruel World…So It Ends’ below: