Holly Humberstone

Holly Ffion Humberstone (born 17 December 1999) is an English singer-songwriter from Grantham, England. In 2021, she signed a recording contract with Interscope and Polydor Records. Her first extended play (EP) following the signings, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, was released in November 2021. Afterwards, she won the Brit Award for Rising Star at the 2022 Brit Awards. She released her debut studio album, Paint My Bedroom Black, in October 2023. Her work Haunted House was nominated for the Best Song Musically and Lyrically Ivor Novello Award.

Early life
Humberstone is from Grantham and is one of four sisters. Both her parents are NHS doctors. She studied at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' Grammar School and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

Humberstone started writing songs at a young age. She has discussed growing up in a small town, stating there was "no music scene growing up in rural Lincolnshire, so I just really did my own thing" in an interview with The Telegraph. Humberstone was formerly a violinist for the Lincolnshire Youth Symphony Orchestra and was first spotted by a manager whilst performing on her local BBC Music Introducing radio show.

2019–2022: Debut and The Walls Are Way Too Thin
Humberstone performed at Glastonbury Festival 2019 on the BBC Music Introducing stage. Her debut single "Deep End" was then 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. Sam Fender surprised Humberstone with the award whilst they were recording an acoustic duet of his song "Seventeen Going Under". On 21 January 2022, she released the single "London is Lonely".

2022–present: Paint My Bedroom Black and tours
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. 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 lattermost of which featured American artist d4vd. In July 2023, she was featured on the song "Diving" by British band Bombay Bicycle Club.

In February 2024, Humberstone released "Dive", along with announcing that a new EP "Work In Progress" would be released on 15 March, noting that the tracklist was made up of demos she had forgotten about that she wanted to release, instead of a more typical deluxe album.

Musical style and influences
Humberstone music has been described as pop, synth-pop, indie rock, alternative rock and pop rock. Her music style has been compared to artists such as Lorde and Bon Iver given its intimate and atmospheric style. Humberstone cites Damien Rice, Ben Howard, Phoebe Bridgers, and Haim as musical inspirations. 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".

Supporting
Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent Tour (Lewis Capaldi) - 2019/20

Sour Tour (Olivia Rodrigo) - 2022

Make It Go Quiet Tour (Girl In Red) - 2022