Holly Humberstone

Holly Ffion Humberstone (born 17 December 1999) is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut EP Falling Asleep at the Wheel in 2020, before signing a recording contract with Polydor and Darkroom Records. Her first EP following the signings, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, was released in November 2021; she subsequently won the Brit Award for Rising Star at the 2022 Brit Awards. She has since released two studio albums, Paint My Bedroom Black and Cruel World (2026), both of which received positive reviews.

Early life Holly Ffion Humberstone was born on 17 December 1999 in the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham. She grew up in Grantham. Humberstone is one of four sisters and her parents are doctors. She studied at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' Grammar School and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

Career 2017–2021: Debut and The Walls Are Way Too Thin Humberstone caught attention whilst still in school after performing on BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 2017. Through this Humberstone performed at Glastonbury Festival 2019 on the BBC Music Introducing stage. Her debut single "Deep End" was released on 30 January 2020. Her second single, "Falling Asleep at the Wheel", was released on 19 March, while her third single, "Overkill", was released on 26 June. On 30 July 2020, she released a cover of "Fake Plastic Trees" by the English rock band Radiohead. Her debut EP, also titled Falling Asleep at the Wheel, was released on 14 August, which contained her three previous singles, alongside the tracks "Vanilla", "Drop Dead" and "Livewire". On 9 December 2020, she was included in Vevo DSCVR's Artists to Watch 2021. She performed her song "Vanilla" on the channel.

In March 2021, ahead of the release of her single "Haunted House" and her second EP, Humberstone signed with Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Darkroom/Interscope Records in the United States. She also signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group. On 13 October 2021, Humberstone performed "Scarlett" from her EP The Walls Are Way Too Thin on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On 9 December 2021, it was announced that Humberstone had been awarded the Brit Award for Rising Star, which recognises pop's most promising new acts to watch. Humberstone was the opening act for Girl in Red's Make It Go Quiet Tour of North America in March 2022, as well as the opening act for the second half of the North American leg of Olivia Rodrigo's Sour Tour. Also in March 2022, The Walls Are Way Too Thin won the Best Mixtape accolade at the 2022 NME Awards. After a string of standalone singles including "Sleep Tight", she released a compilation album of her music released at that point in time, Can You Afford to Lose Me?. It was made available on 24 October 2022. In June 2023, she announced that her debut album would be titled Paint My Bedroom Black. It was released on 13 October 2023 and was promoted with three singles: "Antichrist", "Room Service" and "Superbloodmoon", the latter most of which featured American artist d4vd. The track was removed from streaming services following allegations of d4vd's involvement in the case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. In July 2023, she was featured on the song "Diving" by British band Bombay Bicycle Club.

In February 2024, Humberstone released Dive and announced her third EP Work In Progress would be released on 15 March, noting that the track listing was composed of demos she had forgotten about, as opposed to a typical deluxe album. On 5 August 2024, she was announced as an opener for the 16 August 2024 show of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour.

2025–present: Cruel World In mid-2025, Humberstone returned to musical releases with a contribution to the soundtrack for The Buccaneers, the song "Miss You to Death". Months later, she confirmed that a "new world" was beginning, hinting towards the start of a new album cycle. She thanked fans on social media for "waiting for [her] to get it right". Humberstone then released the single "Die Happy" on 5 November 2025. Her second studio album, Cruel World, was announced on 23 January 2026, accompanying the release of its second single, "To Love Somebody", which Humberstone performed during a 28 January appearance on The Tonight Show in the U.S. The album was released on 10 April 2026. In June, Humberstone released It's a Real Cruel World, an EP composed of four reimagined versions of songs from the album.

Humberstone contributed the original song "Embers in the Sky" to the 2026 video game Life Is Strange: Reunion.

Musical style and influences Humberstone's music has been described as pop, synth-pop, indie rock, and pop rock. Her music style has been compared to artists such as Lorde and Bon Iver given its intimate and atmospheric style. Rice's debut studio album O (2002) is considered by Humberstone to be her "first favourite album". She has stated she mostly identifies with "female writers who overshare" and has described her own musical style as "quite self-exposing". Sleep Tight Tour (2022) This Feels Like The Truman Show (2024) The Holly Humberstone Show (2024) The Cruel World Tour (2026)

Supporting Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent Tour (Lewis Capaldi, 2019–2020) The Sour Tour (Olivia Rodrigo, 2022) Make It Go Quiet Tour (Girl in Red, 2022) The Eras Tour (Taylor Swift, 2024) People Watching Tour (Sam Fender, 2024–2025) The Look at My Life Tour (Gracie Abrams, 2026)

Awards and nominations Year Organisation Category Nominee(s)/work(s) Result 2021 Ivor Novello Awards Rising Star Herself BBC Sound of... Herself 2022 Brit Awards Rising Star Herself NME Awards Best Mixtape The Walls Are Way Too Thin 2026 Berlin Music Video Awards Best Song "Beauty Pageant"