FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
Part Eighty-Three: Holly Humberstone
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HAVING recently won…
PHOTO CREDIT: Frances Beach
the BRIT Awards Rising Star gong, I wanted to spend more time with Holly Humberstone. Even though the world is awaiting a debut album, Humberstone has had a remarkable 2021. Although some see her as a breakthrough pandemic talent, she is someone who is a lot more than a leading light in a troubling time. Her E.P., The Walls Are Way Too Thin, was released last month. I am going to end with a review of that. Prior to that, I want to bring in a few interviews from this year where we get to hear from Humberstone and learn more about a stunning artist. The twenty-one-year-old Grantham-born artist is primed for a huge 2022. Prior to coming to interviews where Humberstone talks about working on her debut album, I want to source GQ. They spoke with her last month after the release of her second E.P.:
“The first song you ever wrote…
I don't actually remember ever sitting down and being like, Okay, I'm going to write a song now. I just remember really idolising powerful women musicians. So I just come home and write at the piano, write about everything that was going on at primary school. It was just my way of working through everything that maybe was confusing me or that I wanted to make sense [of]. My voice used to be really high before I went through puberty, really squeaky, and I’d try to do as many little runs and be as Christina Aguilera as possible... it wasn’t suited to my voice at all! I've lived in the same house forever and we don’t throw anything away so there are loads of old notebooks with really cringy songs I used to write about all the big boys that I fancied at school — so they're fun to look back at.
When was the first time you had your heart broken?
I actually think, in romantic relationships, I've never had my heart broken. I'm always the heartbreaker, which is kind of a savage vibe from me. I'm not really a relationship type girl, I just seem to get put off really easily or I find spending so much time with one person really draining. But I think the first time I was so, so heartbroken, was probably when my dogs died. We had two flat-coated retrievers and they were the most amazing, precious dogs. But the thing about big dogs is they don’t tend to live very long. I think ours were 10 years old and we’d had them since I was seven so they were just our best friends, a total part of the family. One of them had been ill and he died, and the other one was fine. Then Lola, the girl, 10 days later, she died too. She couldn't go on without her partner in crime. It was awful. We buried them in the back garden and planted apple trees and rose bushes over their graves. That's probably the first time I remember being like, really, really, really heartbroken about something. I don't even know if it's worth getting the dogs because you love them so much and so deeply and it’s inevitable that they’ll die before you do. It’s so painful, is it worth it?
The first time you were starstruck…
I think the first time I was starstruck was working with this guy, Rob [Howie Milton], who I write most of my stuff with. Basically, I grew up in Lincolnshire, but the closest city is Nottingham. And there was this huge band called Dog Is Dead. Everyone was obsessed with them at school. They were the coolest. Then it just so happened that when I had started doing sessions for the first time, we were trying out a few different people - and I’m a shy person, I find writing such an intimate thing. So it’s hard to be vulnerable with the average writer you get put in a room with, which is often like a 40-year-old man who I’ve got nothing in common with. So we were struggling to find anyone that I could relax around and feel comfortable with. And then I worked with Rob and we just clicked but the whole time I was like, 'Oh my god, it's Rob from Dog Is Dead'. I still get a bit starstruck around him. Maybe that's why we work together so well, because I've listened to songs so many times that his writing influenced me when I was younger”.
Prior to the release of the acclaimed The Walls Are Way Too Thin – perhaps the best E.P. of this year –, Holly Humberstone spoke with DORK. She spoke about the different creative process of her second E.P. compared to her debut:
“Your second EP is coming out soon, can you tell us a bit about it?
I wrote the EP over the last twoish years, so a lot of it was put together throughout lockdown, and some of it was put together before. I feel like my first EP is a time capsule that I wrote when I was still living at home, just leaving school and going through those types of experiences. This next EP feels like the next chapter and everything that came after that. I released the song ‘Haunted House’, which is about leaving home and also about moving to London and having a bit of a weird time in the flat in London. I guess the EP is just about things changing in my life, and I feel like I’ve been in a sort of in-between stage. Between being a teenager and then moving out, relationships and things like that. Experiencing all of those things for the first time. Just working through all these weird emotions and feelings. Two songs are already out, ‘Haunted House’ and ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’. There should be a song out – maybe, I can’t confirm or deny – in August, which I’m really excited about. Hopefully, the rest of the EP will be out later in the year. I’ve just had loads of fun writing it.
Was the process of working on this record different than on your debut EP?
It was a bit different because a lot of it was done over lockdown and finished over lockdown, but I tend to write in the same way. I wrote bits on my own and bits with a collaborator that I worked a lot with called Rob, who I really trust and feel really comfortable with and can be open with. It’s always really fun, going into the studio and writing with Rob. I’ve a lot of collaborations with other people that I really admire as well.
Talking about Phoebe Bridges, you share similar emotionality when it comes to your songwriting. It’s raw and in-depth. Does this vulnerable way of writing come naturally to you?
For sure. I feel like I’ve always written for myself, and I’ve always used writing as a way of working through things. A lot of the time, I’m not sure how I feel about something that I’m going through before I’ve written a song about it and then writing the song helps me work through the feelings but in kind of a simple format. The song is clear, and it’s me trying to filter everything I’m feeling and put it into a concise bit so I can understand a bit more. I’ve always done that. I can’t remember when I started writing, but I was really young. I was probably around seven or something. I used to write about things going on in primary school and boys I fancied and stuff. It’s always been my safe space. My comfort zone. I write for myself; that’s why everything seems really honest because I’m genuinely trying to figure out how I feel about stuff.
Is it a kind of self-therapy for you then?
Yes, it’s my safe space. I’ve also found that a lot of this EP has come about in the last two years when I was going through a lot of changes in my life, like leaving home. Just so many changes that you go through as a young adult moving out of home and experiencing all of these things for the first time, and I feel like writing is my comfort zone, and it’s kind of like the one constant that I’ve been able to come to with all of this confusing shit going on”.
There are a couple of interviews that I want to tick off the list before I come to a review of The Walls Are Way Too Thin. When speaking with The Guardian back in October, Humberstone discussed how she did not want people telling her how to write her songs. She also revealed how she has been planning ahead to the release of her much-anticipated debut album:
“The purpose of her songwriting hasn’t changed since she was 11, she says. “I have chaos in my head all the time. When I sit down to write, it’s working through all these things that I’m going through. When I put it in a song, it’s a more manageable piece to understand. It’s really my therapy.”
When real life resumed, Humberstone had a small kind of stardom to reckon with, alongside the regular worries of young adulthood. Her new EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, brims with the fear of change. On the advice of surveyors, her family left the crumbling rural cottage where she had spent her life. “My ultimate comfort, sacred space,” says Humberstone – the place where her parents, NHS medics, encouraged their four daughters to be creative and make a mess. She moved to London (“overwhelming”), her parents went to Wales and her sisters scattered around. They recently lost their grandma, too. Growing up with three sisters left her shocked by the reality of touring with an all-male crew in the US: “Them coming into my room and there’s sanitary towels everywhere and I’m like: let’s just clear that away …” (Next time, she wants an all-female band.)
“It’s a really awkward age where you have to face all these things for the first time,” says Humberstone, a sweetly nervy talker who persistently describes herself as “awkward”. On her right hand, a ring spells out “SISTER”.
She is still working with her small team and retained her master recordings in the deal – as well as her creative control. “I made it very clear that I don’t want any fingers in the pie,” she says. “I feel really uncomfortable about people who aren’t involved in the creative process telling me how I should write my songs.” She has made most of her music to date with Rob Milton, formerly of the Nottingham-based indie band Dog Is Dead, and finds writing with strangers anxiety-inducing. Yet she looked up two blue-chip songwriters during her trip to LA to see what they might come up with. “I idolise these people and it was fun, but still tricky,” she says. The point, she insists, isn’t striving for pop hits. “I just go in with my baggage and my feelings.”
After her autumn tour concludes, Humberstone has time off to write her debut full-length. “An album is the most terrifying thing ever,” she says. “It’s so final and such a big piece of work to be happy with.” The songs written so far touch on the return of her social life and some decisively brief flings. After the end of a three-year relationship, documented in her debut EP, she has decided her career means she doesn’t have the energy for romance: “And I like being on my own at the moment”.
Even though there is a lot of support in her corner and Humberstone has the acclaim of the BRIT Awards, there is still a bit of pressure and fear around the release of the debut album. NME chatted with Humberstone back in September. Humberstone talked about how releasing an album is daunting – although she has a lot of material collected that she needs to put out:
“Over the next few months, the 21-year-old’s focus will turn to working on her aforementioned debut album, which will follow last year’s exceptional debut EP ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’ (which received the full five-star treatment from NME) and it’s forthcoming follow-up, ‘The Ways Are Way Too Thin’, due for release in November later this year.
“For me, an album is a really daunting thought. Being done with my debut album and having that much work, and all of it being final, is so scary – so I think it’s going to be a while [before it’s released]” she says. “I’ve had loads of time now to just experiment and try different things out, and to have fun with my writing without the pressure.
“I have loads of music that I’m so excited about – but I don’t think I’ll ever feel like it’s finished as I get bored of my work quite quickly. At some point, I’ll just have to be like, ‘That’s it. I’m just putting it out,’ – and then I can forget about it and start on the next new thing…”
Just before finishing off, it is worth sourcing one of the many positive reviews for The Walls Are Way Too Thin. This is what The Line of Best Fit noted about one of the finest releases of this year:
“Since 2020’s Falling Asleep At The Wheel EP, Holly Humberstone has been working with long-time producer collaborator Rob Milton on her latest offering; The Walls Are Way Too Thin. Continuing her brand of heartbreak and early-twenties angst, the EP turns up the heat on last year’s release – swapping out the slow and steady for the cinematic and dramatic.
It seems as though the helplessness and despair from the past has blossomed into sadness and understanding. Whether this is mourning her childhood home on “Haunted House”, or a relationship that could have been on title track “The Walls Are Way Too Thin”, Humberstone has upped her game and fuelled the fire of her career. Even on “Thursday” - the one track that harkens back the most to her last EP - there is a sense of maturity and growth from Humberstone that feels appropriate for 18 months away.
“Friendly Fire”, using a delightful acoustic arrangement, builds and swells with emotion as a perfect ending to the EP, and standout track “Scarlett” displays some incredible songwriting from the 21-year-old star. Her collaboration with The 1975’s Matty Healy on “Please Don’t Leave Just Yet” shines bright too, with unmistakable influence from Healy’s previous work merging perfectly with Humberstone’s vocal and style.
The Walls Are Way Too Thin is an EP from an undoubtedly rising star. From its songwriting to production, its emotive lyrical content to considered vocal performance, it’s a home run of a project. Holly Humberstone is destined for great things, and this EP is just the beginning”.
One of this country’s most astounding and promising young artists, I feel Holly Humberstone is going to be a massive name in the future. Someone who will go on to inspire so many other artists, we have only seen the start of her majestic musical reign. On the evidence of what she has released so far, Holly Humberstone is going to be…
A future legend.