Words by Katherine Cardinale
Holly Humberstone is back with her highly anticipated sophomore album, Cruel World, which encourages contrasting emotions to coexist with one another and successfully creates a unique and slightly tragic fairytale composed of Holly’s lived experiences, memories, and relationships.
Holly kicked off her latest musical era with the release of “Die Happy” back in November 2025. In a review with The Line of Best Fit, Humberstone stated that she “took inspiration from The Blood Chamber and Dracula and wanted to show the feeling of throwing yourself into love fully and recklessly.” These dark, mythical, and magical themes are present throughout the new album’s lyrics and visuals. There has always been an element of spooky when it comes to listening to Holly’s discography, but with visual collaborators like Silken Weinberg and Holly’s older sister Eleri now working beside her, she has exposed her audience to an ever-expanding world inspired by fictional monsters, motifs, and secrets.
The record opens with “So It Starts…,” a theatrical intro that draws you into the magical world that Holly has created over the past two years. It leads directly into “Make It All Better,” a song about wanting to nurture and protect a special relationship while simultaneously romanticising it and thinking ahead to the future. “We’ll let everybody stare, I don’t care, they’re just extras in our scene” feeds into the overarching cinematic themes of the entire album while detailing the passion that Holly has for her new relationship.
Themes of love and blossoming new relationships are present throughout the record. “Red Chevy,” was written right after Holly returned from touring North America in 2024 and is seen by Holly to be a bridge between her first album and Cruel World. Holly also joins the likes of artists such as boygenius and Gracie Abrams, using the color blue to talk about a close relationship she has with someone else in “Blue Dream.” When asked to talk about the track, Holly stated that “blue is such an evocative colour for [me]: It’s peace and love and nature, but it’s also a sad colour. And the two things existing in the same space felt like such a big theme of the album.”
Cruel World also covers the difficulty of isolation and heartbreak, which can be heard in the “Save Your Tears”-remniscent, Nashville-inspired track “White Noise,” as well as “Drunk Dialing,” which is a song about pining for someone you can’t have.
The final track on the record, “Beauty Pageant,” is already gaining attention online for its honest and relatable lyrics. Humberstone writes about societal expectations surrounding self image, perfection, and putting on a show for others, singing “But I’m too young, too sad / Too dumb to stand a chance / I’ll strike a pose, I’m ready / Come on and make me pretty.” A music video directed by Silken Weinberg accompanied the song’s release. It features glittery visuals, dancing, and references to famous movies and fairy tales, much like the other two music videos that Holly has already released this era. “To Love Somebody” was inspired by the horror movie Nosferatu, and “Cruel World” was filmed on a Victorian Theatre set.
The record is a clear standout from Holly’s already captivating discography, as she has allowed herself to experiment with sounds and visuals arguably more now than she ever has before. While her first album Paint My Bedroom Black solidified her talents as a unique storyteller within the music industry following the success of her breakthrough 2020 EP, Falling Asleep At The Wheel, Cruel World has introduced a darker and more magical side to her artistry. Getting to watch Holly evolve into the star she is today has been nothing short of an honor.
In addition to the release of Cruel World on Friday, Holly also made her return to Coachella over the weekend, playing a full-length set on the Gobi Stage for thousands of fans. Her stunning performance and gorgeous billboard have garnered praise from outlets such as DORK and PASTE. If you are heading out to the desert this weekend, make sure to catch her set!
Holly is heading out on a full length tour this summer with stops at major music festivals such as Gov Ball and Bonnaroo, as well as in cities across North America and Europe. You can view the full list of dates and purchase your tickets to see her here.
Loudspeaker Collective 