Holly Humberstone

About Holly Humberstone

Holly Humberstone grew up in Grantham, a small market town in Lincolnshire, England, in a Victorian house with her three older sisters. The house didn't have heating, which meant they spent a lot of time huddled together, making music to pass the time. Her parents converted the garage into a makeshift studio, and that's where she started writing songs as a teenager, teaching herself production and recording demos late into the night.

She studied music at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts but dropped out after realizing she learned more from making music on her own than from the coursework. That decision paid off when she started uploading tracks online and caught the attention of Darkroom and Interscope Records. Her early singles like "Deep End" and "Falling Asleep at the Wheel" arrived in 2020, showcasing her knack for turning introspective bedroom pop into something that felt both intimate and cinematic.

The breakthrough came with her debut EP "Falling Asleep at the Wheel" later that year, which she recorded largely in that same garage back home during lockdown. The title track became her calling card, a slow-burning piece about anxiety and feeling stuck that resonated with a lot of people navigating their early twenties during a pandemic. She followed it up with "The Walls Are Way Too Thin" in 2021, another EP that leaned into themes of isolation and family dynamics. Songs like "Haunted House" used her childhood home as both literal setting and metaphor, while "Please Don't Leave Just Yet" showed she could write a devastating breakup song without overdoing it.

That same year, she won the BBC's Sound of 2022 poll and got the BRITs Rising Star Award, which put her in the company of previous winners like Adele and Sam Smith. The recognition was deserved but also came with pressure to deliver a full-length album that lived up to the hype.

Her debut album "Paint My Bedroom Black" finally arrived in October 2023. It took longer than expected, partly because she scrapped early versions that didn't feel right. The final product was worth the wait, expanding her sound without losing the raw emotion that made those early EPs connect. Tracks like "London Is Lonely" and "Antichrist" showed growth as both a songwriter and producer, while maintaining that confessional quality that's been there from the start.

She's spent the past year touring extensively, including support slots with major acts and her own headline shows. Now in her mid-twenties, she's moved past the early career jitters and settled into making music that mines the messy, unglamorous parts of growing up without trying to dress them up as anything other than what they are.

Her shows have this hushed, attentive quality where people actually listen instead of talk. She's warm between songs, a bit self-deprecating. The crowd leans in for the quieter moments. She doesn't need much production to pull focus.

Known for Overkill, The Walls, Scarlet, Deep End, Pain

See Holly Humberstone Live