English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone has recently released the deluxe edition of her second album, adding five new tracks to her record, which came out in April. Cruel World … So It Ends comes out through Interscope Records.
The new songs include Too Cute to Be Lonely, Killing the Mood, Terminally Yours, Silver Sky, and Annihilation. Too Cute to Be Lonely received BBC Radio 1 Hottest Record distinction, while Silver Sky explores a nostalgia-driven 1990s atmosphere. Humberstone co-wrote all five songs with her longtime producer Rob Milton.
As Humberstone explains, Cruel World begins and ends as a standalone story, but she felt like So It Ends should be an encore to that. These songs feel a little bit more sure-footed. The pressure was off, so I embraced the freedom I’d found whilst making the record and just enjoyed myself in the studio. I think that’s pretty evident, she said in a statement.
In addition, the artist shared a video for her song Killing the Mood. Silken Weinberg directed the video, which shows Humberstone playing with her band in a cruel world of her creation.
On November 27, she will release a special vinyl single called Live From Cruel World for Record Store Day Black Friday. It includes audio from her BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge performance and will be available exclusively at the participating independent record stores.
At this point, it is very exciting times for Holly Humberstone. The artist performed on Later… with Jools Holland, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! She also made a guest appearance on the season one finale of SNL UK. This year she played major festivals, including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Governors Ball, Summerfest, All Things Go, Reading and Leeds, Summer Sonic, and Mad Cool. On December 18–20, she will be opening Gracie Abrams’ concert at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
The streams of Cruel World have exceeded 83 million since its release. The album explores the interconnection of pain and pleasure, placing chaos and acceptance side by side. Humberstone allows herself to escape into the world she created: a dark fairy tale full of childhood remnants, monsters, and memories.
The last couple of years were devoted to repair and belonging for Humberstone as she began to reconnect with parts of her past that disappeared after she stepped into the spotlight at 20. While her debut album, “Paint My Bedroom Black,” was built on turbulence and longing, “Cruel World” finds its peace and steadiness in memories.
Humberstone developed a visual world for the album with her sister Eleri and Silken Weinberg, her creative director. It reflects childhood keepsakes she discovered during her move out of the house where she spent her childhood: ballet slippers, “Alice in Wonderland” books and movies, “Edward Scissorhands,” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Going over them helped her turn the ghosts of her past into something playful and magical.
Humberstone developed her unique storytelling style from a family home in Grantham, England, to stages like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Wembley Stadium, where she opened for Taylor Swift. Since her breakthrough EP “Falling Asleep at the Wheel,” she has already won the Rising Star award at the 2022 Brit Awards, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for “Haunted House,” released “Paint My Bedroom Black” in 2023, and is known for her unflinching honesty and quiet turmoil of young adulthood.
