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Dubbed the “Queen of the East Midlands”, today on MoveOnUp Music we have one of my personal favourite artists - the wonderful Holly Humberstone.
Recently releasing her debut album Paint My Bedroom Black to great reviews, Holly’s music has the finesse of a seasoned pro, despite having only officially starting to release music as late as 2020 (on Spotify at least).
Touching on themes from heartbreak to family love; depression to loneliness - all within the record, Paint My Bedroom Black is littered with anthems that can break you down to tears alongside tracks that simply make you bop.
Particular highlights from the album include tracks
Into Your Room and Cocoon - which both highlight the overarching theme of emotional emptiness that centers the project.
However, what is perhaps Holly’s greatest strength as an artist, is being able to channel her candid, raw lyrics into tunes you can both secretly cry to in your room and play hanging out with your mates.
This blend is exactly what first attracted me to Holly as an artist all the way back in her BBC Introducing / Falling Asleep At The Wheel EP days.
For me, her first releases held so much depth and polish, a very rare feat for an artist just starting out. From my experience, often time artists at the start of their career seem to struggle with one of the following factors:
Unique identity - a recognisable sound or personality that makes them stand out
Catchy, quality songs - songs that you can keep coming back to, rather than just say nice to once and never listen to again
Releasing regularly - audiences having a discography to explore rather than a single song or just a 15/60 second snippet
Of course not all artists can have these, for a whole load of reasons, but from the very start Holly seemed to be different...
The iconic start.
The music video for 'Drop Dead' (above) instantly engrained itself in my head. Aside from the masterful layering as the track reaches its climax, the gritty visual of the burning car behind Holly as she stares into the camera walking towards the viewer is nothing short of iconic.
Elsewhere on the Falling Asleep at the Wheel EP, the music videos for the title track as well as 'Overkill' and 'Deep End', are all similar in their nature, colour scheme and aesthetic but all have their own unique flair.
The title track follows a close shot of Holly’s head as she is wheeled away by the RV set alight in the 'Drop Dead' video, illustrating the numbness you feel as a relationship slowly fades away
Overkill’s home camera setup may have been a quick fix but perfectly fits the rugged aesthetic of the rest and perfectly matches the race against the butterflies before you confess your love to someone for the first time.
Finally, Deep End’s rain shot perfectly mirrors the track’s meaning of her trying to find a way to help her sister battle mental health difficulties but not knowing exactly how without falling under herself.
But what adds to the video’s undeniable authenticity, is the rain in the shot is made from her three sisters shooting garden hoses at her - showing the love she has for her family from the very beginning.
Hearing from Holly herself...
Perhaps a theme that can encompass Holly’s entire discography is the struggle of expressing this love. Whether it be the struggle of expressing it for the first time to a crush to showing your family how much they mean to you. Coming to a head with the emotional onslaught of a relationship or feeling yourself checking out of one nearing the end of its road - Holly’s music expresses all these feelings crystal clear.
Despite this clarity in her lyrics, Holly said that most of her music stems from a combination of her various journal entries, which you can see in the track & theme variety in Paint My Bedroom Black. The album being written in between tour dates supporting the likes of Girl In Red, Olivia Rodrigo as well as her own headliners. But despite these tour dates coming with amazing opportunities to travel the world and grow her music's reach, inside Holly there grew an ever palpable sense of homesickness and confusion.
Holly describes tour as an “emotional rollercoaster”, and that her latest album is reflective of that confusing headspace saying:
“To me, this album is honestly really confusing. It’s a great depiction of my head because one song is acoustic, really mellow and stripped back but the next is one like some weird dance thing”
Describing the writing process, Holly said:
“When I start to put pressure on myself and sit down to plan on writing a song, I don't tend to get anywhere. For me, writing has always been a comfort space for me. I find that it is my one place where I can go and write whatever I want and say whatever I want. I guess that's why my lyrics are so personal because I sit down when I need to get some shit out.”
..But the way Holly can channel those feelings through the stroke of the pen is undeniably remarkable; and the success speaks for itself.
Dealing with the fame...
During 2021, Holly endured a meteoric rise from her bedroom in Lincolnshire, to moving down to London, to touring internationally, to featuring on Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Tonight Show’ as well as the acoustic version of the year’s number one hit ‘Seventeen Going Under’ by Sam Fender. It is nothing short of incredible how much she managed to fit into just one calendar year.
All this culminated in her deservedly winning the 2021 Brit Rising Star award after the success of her Falling Asleep At The Wheel EP the year previous, as well as her new tracks on the 2021 ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin” EP such as ‘Scarlett’, ‘Haunted House’ and its title track (all highly recommended).
However, Holly maintained, and continues to maintain, her humility despite her incredible success (including releasing a remix of ‘Into Your Room’ with MUNA last friday), stating that she still feels an immense sense of impostor syndrome…
“I feel like I don’t have the ability to see too far into the future, I’m just so focused on how cool it is that I get to do this now.”
The Future...
Looking out into Holly’s future , then all I personally can see is her music coming on further leaps and bounds. Her first official releases were so good because of the combination of her natural talent and the catalogue of music she released before (as discussed in this old BBC Introducing East Midlands clip below).
But these releases could have well been a tough act to follow for any musician, yet alone for someone starting out in their professional songwriting career.
However, I think it’s fair to say that she has continued to excel and excel as the years have gone by and each project has become more intricate than the last.
At the time of writing this, Holly is just 23 years old with the world at her feet. Whether she realises it or not, she has the potential to write some truly iconic music that can change the world.
Paint my Bedroom Black has already garnered ⅘ stars from publications such as the Guardian, NME as well as the adoration from millions of fans.
But... I just can’t shake off the feeling that we will look back on Paint My Bedroom Black just like we do with Hypersonic Missiles; fantastic debuts that introduce the world to their art, just before their sophomore album blows it apart.
Make sure to check out Paint My Bedroom Black below...
...and stay tuned for a concert review in the new year when we see Holly stop over in Bristol!
Tour dates available to see below:
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