8 minute read
HOLLY HUMBERSTONE
Entering lockdown with a single, and re-emerging with her first headlining tour well underway and a second EP on the horizon, Holly Humberstone has hit the ground running.
The past two years have been a time of lifestyle change and personal growth for many, but while for most this took the form of an exciting new haircut or a sudden passion for crochet, for Holly Humberstone she emerged from lockdown with a fullyfledged and formidable career in music. However, the newlockdown-new-me analogy ends there, as Holly’s career trajectory was nowhere near as spur of the moment as a shaved head. Instead, music has been present throughout her childhood. Growing up, her bedroom was her space for music and from those walls, Holly's debut single Deep End was released to the world in January 2020. No one needs reminding of what would happen next, but while the world closed its doors Holly was busier than ever. Almost two years later and with multiple singles, a debut EP, and a second well underway, major media recognition and a fast-selling out headlining tour, Holly Humberstone has hit the ground running.
We spoke to Holly as she waited in departures for a flight to continue on her headlining tour that is now in full swing, a testament to her busy schedule of which she is incredibly grateful. ‘When I set out on this tour I told myself I would never take it for granted again and just enjoy every second of it because I haven't really had much of a chance to experience this yet.’ While she welcomes it excitedly, it is no surprise that her new fast-paced lifestyle as a musician and performer to adoring fans has proven a shock to the system, ‘It is completely new to me. For a while, it was hard to believe that this was actually happening and that there were actually people out there listening to my music. Suddenly it’s more than just a load of statistics on Spotify or comments on youtube.’
‘It felt so weird, and so going to festivals over the summer has been really fun. It’s still really bizarre to me that there are actually physical people who can show up and who want to hear me play.’
For Holly, starting out as she did during lockdown and never knowing what the “normal” musician experience was, was a blessing in disguise, but the funny mix of simultaneously having your career gathering momentum while physically remaining stationary at home did not go unnoticed. ‘It felt odd to have all these amazing opportunities and support coming in but to be sat at home and just seeing it through my phone screen’ Finally that sense of waiting in the stalls is over for Holly as the artist once tied down to Nottingham and then London now takes to the skies and travels the world, ‘I’m going over to the US which will be really exciting as it’s my first time over there. Then I’ve got the UK tour and Shepherds Bush Empire which is an exciting milestone for me as Holly’s latest EP The Walls Are Way Too Thin is set for release on November fifth and the young musician is ready for it to finally be available to the public. ‘I’m really proud of it all, it feels like a time capsule for me and it's nice to listen back. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I've worked really hard to get it all right so I’m very excited for it to be released and to tour and see everyone finally. It's going to be really nice.’ From listening to The Walls are Way Too Thin, it becomes clear that this piece of work really is like a diary, or a time capsule, to the artist. Right from the offset with ‘Haunted House’ Holly works through the inner turmoils of adolescence and leaves that all behind, along with the comforting familiarity of her childhood home, to set out on her own. ‘I wrote the EP all in the space of a year or two and it pretty much sums up how I was feeling at that time. I was in an awkward in-between stage from being at home and a teenager, and then moving out and living on my own. I was experiencing a lot for the first time.’
The rising star moved to London in the summer of 2020 and it took a while for the now twenty-one year old to find her feet. ‘There was a lot of chaos. It's the busiest place ever but you can feel very isolated and lonely there. The studio was the only safe space that I had and it was my therapy to work through all these feelings that I had. It really helped me to express how I was feeling.’’
This deeply personal and cathartic subject matter continues throughout as she tackles friendship with ‘Scarlet’, a track named
after her best friend, and then mulls over relationship breakdown in ‘Please Don’t Leave’ featuring the 1975’s Matty Heally. Working with Matty was a dream come true for Holly. ‘He’s been a huge inspiration to me and pretty much wrote the soundtrack of my teenage years. It’s been really nice to work alongside him and see how he comes up with his music.’
Her lyrics capture some of life's most intense feelings and she packages this all with what can only be described as bottled twilight. Her sound is jarring, gothic, and ethereal. It is interlaced with warped and glitching tones and stark blank space which intersects sharply with stripped-back electronic beats and mindwarping synths.
Some of Holly’s spooky aesthetics and tones can be accredited to her unconventional childhood home which was once used as the servants quarters for a nearby castle and comes complete with meat hooks in the basement and mushrooms growing out of the walls. It is no surprise that when the rising star was young, friends would often make excuses to avoid staying the night. Despite this Holly looks back on her time there fondly and from listening to the aptly named track ‘Haunted House’ it is clear how important her childhood home was both sentimentally and creatively. ‘I had always written in the same room in my house where I grew up, and that had always been my safe space to do what I wanted musically and to work through everything that was going on the outside.’ When she moved out, recreating that musical safe space became a priority. For Holly it turned out her new “safe space” may not come in the form of a physical room, but instead the people with which she surrounds herself. ‘When I moved out I just tried to channel that same environment by bringing in people that I trusted and could be really comfortable around.’
‘I found it very hard at the beginning of my career because I was going to all these writing sessions and it was so strange trying to write with people that I didn’t know and had nothing in common with. It took a little time to find my people but working with them, it can never feel like a job. It's always so much fun going into the room and just talking through what's been going on in our lives.’
While the last few years have been characterised for Holly by continuous transition and change, one thing that has remained a constant is the role of music in keeping her mentally grounded. ‘It has definitely become a form of therapy for me. I know that sounds cheesy but it really is.’ Not only is this personal writing restorative for the artist, but the transparency in her work also succeeds in connecting to her fans. “I write so I can connect with other people but I think the reason that it connects with other people is that I'm writing for myself.’ Her quickly growing fanbase is a testament to the overwhelming appreciation her open lyrics receive.
Holly is known for establishing rich narratives within her music videos and aesthetic choices. Over the past year, action-packed music videos that resemble something closer to a four-minute-long blockbuster, have become the hallmark of a Holly Humberstone music video. ‘I always seem to put myself in danger’ Holly Laughs, ‘I’ve been freezing cold, I've been in an air vent with fire blasting at me, and for the Scarlett music video I was on the back of a moving truck. I always seem to put myself in really terrible positions and then I hate myself when I actually have to do it but maybe that makes me a better performer.’ This rich inner narrative is now so intrinsic to her style that the visual elements do not come secondary to the music as is often the case, but are instead often designed alongside the writing process meaning the elements complement each other perfectly. ‘I've always had the same director for video and I think he just really gets the vision and the aesthetics of it all. It's just become really fun thinking of new ideas and new ways to tell the story. When I'm writing I have a bit of a visual of what I want the music video to be in my head. I also get inspiration from films a lot of the time.’
We leave Holly to board her flight and continue on her journey in a music career that is only gathering speed. While she does have the whispers of an album in the works, ‘It will take a little while to get it right but I have a couple of songs that I am really excited about.' For now her life consists mostly of preparing for the EP to drop this November and touring and performing like there is no tomorrow. It is safe to say she is making up for lost time.
