Music Critic Daisy Holian reviews Holly Humberstone’s upcoming release, praising its poetic portrayal of young women in an unforgivingly judgmental and cruel world
Holly Humberstone’s Cruel World is a brutally revealing exploration of early womanhood and the expectation, insecurity, and disorientation that it inevitably brings. Reminiscent of The 1975’s synth sounds and Lorde’s poetic electropop, Humberstone’s upcoming album tracks all the emotions that feel especially relatable to young women enduring the pressures of shifting sands as they enter adulthood.
Since her music debut in 2020, Humberstone’s career has rose to the mainstream, winning the 2022 Rising Star Brit award and working with big names, including opening for Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Tour, Sam Fender’s People Watching Tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Now, after her own sold-out headline tour, Humberstone is set to release her second studio album Cruel World.
For me, this album can be split into three parts
The album opens with the prelude of ‘So It Starts…’, a stepping orchestral track that acts to set the stage of Humberstone’s Cruel World. The busyness of this opening is what reminds its listeners that the experience of womanhood is something that is inherently complicated and difficult to navigate.
For me, this album can be split into three parts, the first being, in simple terms, one of love. But this does not feel straight forward, with complicated and paradoxical articulations of such sensibilities throughout the album. Humberstone initially describes a protective and lasting love in ‘Make It All Better’ that tells of comfortably devoted love as she sings “I’ll fade out with you.” However, this is counteracted by the following ‘To Love Somebody’, where Humberstone offers insight into the ups and downs of relationships, spotlighting the sentiment that love with flaws is better than never loving at all. Then comes the album’s title track ‘Cruel World’ that brings a sadness about love, with long distance bringing the weight of longing and jealousy. ‘Die Happy’ brings a twisted perspective of love, with a darkness from the off, singing of spiders, shadows and ghosts. Perhaps a slightly strange take on love, but one that does carry a romanticism of exciting and unpredictable feeling, being in a whirlwind of infatuation.
A turning point in this album is the track ‘White Noise’ that introduces what I see as the second part of this album, shifting from discussions of love to the overwhelmingly consuming feelings of heartbreak and loss. She sings, “so play a sad song DJ, I just want to sway tonight,” possibly something that many of us can relate to: evading our problems and the pain that they bear.
Shifting from discussions of love to the overwhelmingly consuming feelings of heartbreak and loss
From this, synths turn to acoustics as a song of reassurance, ‘Lucy’, slows down the album. With the third part of the album, Humberstone looks at themes of coping. ‘Lucy’ is grounded in solace, acting as a reminder that good will come from the bad. Although sombre in nature, its message is purely encouraging, catalysing a journey of reconnection with identity, learning who you are as you navigate difficulty. On a different note, still sticking with the topic of coping, Humberstone looks towards a coquettish mood with ‘Red Chevy’ and ‘Drunk Dialling’. Love turns to lust here, fluctuating between moving on and yearning for past relationships, reiterating the complexity one might find with love and loss.
‘Peachy’ brings a degree of whiplash as Humberstone quickly turns to an emotional piano ballad next, emphasising the intimidating pressure of growing up. The lyricism in this track is beautifully vulnerable, following feelings of self-doubt and faltering confidence as she sings, “I’m 24, I’m still a baby / Don’t put your faith in me”. ‘Blue Dream,’ however, returns to an optimistic spin on love, creating a cyclical sense to the album, echoing that messiness of your twenties.
Humberstone’s mixed rhythms translate to the uncertainty of early adulthood as a woman
As the album comes to a close, ‘Beauty Pageant’ withdraws to a quieter, softer melody. Illuminating the insecurity and discomfort living with the expectations of societal opinion, this final song emphasises the crushing feeling of being “too young, too sad, too dumb to stand a chance” whilst clawing for validation in an unforgivingly judgmental and cruel world, hence the album’s title.
This album is intentional in its chaos. Humberstone’s mixed rhythms translate to the uncertainty of early adulthood as a woman. In an interview with InStyle, she spoke of drawing inspiration for this album from her own transition into adulthood in her 20s at a time of turbulence and change, forcing her into rediscovering her sense of self. The emotional lyricism that Humberstone and collaborator Rob Milton write communicates a discomfort as she tracks through womanhood as something that, yes is demanding and convoluted, but relatable, validating the volatility of the female experience.
Cruel World is truly ill-defined in the best of ways, demonstrating a simplicity at its beginning that quickly evolves with soft synths and sultry undertones. The intertwining of the good and the bad ultimately exposes this confusing nature of growing older. And, at its core, tying the album into a cohesive story, is vulnerability and strength, the imperceptible undercurrent of the transition from girlhood to womanhood.
Rating: 8/10
Holly Humberstone’s Cruel World releases 10th April 2026.
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