HollyHumberstoneHasFoundHerPower

Holly Humberstone and Chloe Qisha on music, human connection and divine femininity

 

INTERVIEW Chloe Qisha

WORDS Phillza Mirza

 

Interview taken from IMAGINE Magazine Issue Three Pre Order here

 

For Holly Humberstone, writing has always begun close to home, emotionally and physically. The rooms she grew up in, the particularities of Grantham, the feeling of packing a life into boxes and deciding what stays with you. There is a shift happening in her work now. A loosening of expectation and a clearer sense of what belongs to her.

 

Sitting down with Chloe Qisha, the conversation moves between songwriting, girlhood and the strange visibility of growing up in public.

 

Chloe Qisha: Where does this new chapter begin for you? Does it feel like a continuation or something you had to rebuild from scratch?

 

Holly Humberstone: The beginning of a new project feels like an amazing chance to start from scratch. My last project, Paint My Bedroom Black, was written so long ago, maybe four or five years ago now, and though I love those songs, I get tired of performing them sometimes, so any chance to reinvent myself is really fun. It will always still feel like me because it’s the same person behind the creative process, but the best way to start is not to deep it and to just go with what feels natural.

 

CQ: Did you feel like you had a message or a clear vision of what you wanted this next album to be before going in to write the songs? Or do you think it was more natural?

 

HH: I think it’s more the second option. If I overthink before starting to write a project, I kind of just get in my own way. The less I can think about what I’m doing until I’m in the studio writing, the better. I jot down ideas and notes and random words or phrases that I find interesting, then I get into the studio and try to get into the headspace. The through line kind of presented itself midway through the writing.

 

One of the big themes of Cruel World is experiencing love as this really nuanced thing. In all types of relationships, if you care about something so much, then it’s gonna be painful too. Through writing this album, I’ve kind of discovered that love is deeply painful, and that’s what makes it so powerful.

 

My sister and I did the creative alongside the writing process for this one. I wrote the title track Cruel World and then I was like, okay, everything needs to feel like it exists within this kind of other world. Loads of the visual elements have been inspired by things that I found whilst packing away my childhood home.

 

“As songwriters I feel like we are hypersensitive to our physical surroundings, and for me, it’s always been that physically where I am will inspire what the music sounds like, or what I’m writing about.”

 

CQ: Your visual world for this album, I’ve just been completely obsessed. I think you and Ellery have done such an incredible job, from the press photos to social assets. They just look so seamless and so authentic to you, which I think so many artists, including myself, really struggle with right now, because there’s such a saturation of who you should be and who’s doing the best on social media.

 

It’s so refreshing to see your rollout for this campaign and for it to be like, no, this feels very Holly.

 

HH: Thank you, Chloe, that’s so nice. I feel like there is a huge pressure on artists to have it figured out from the get-go. It feels scary to deviate, even a little bit, from how people know you and how you have chosen to present yourself from the start, even though it’s natural to evolve and change. You’ve just got to take it not too seriously and be like, this is how I feel at the moment, and this is how I’m gonna present this chapter of the story.

 

CQ: That’s the most authentic thing you can do. The most authentic thing you can do as an artist is just to go in the room and write how you’re feeling that day.

 

CQ: Grantham feels like such a strong presence in your early work. What does home mean to you now, especially after leaving it behind in a more permanent way?

 

HH: As songwriters I feel like we are hypersensitive to our physical surroundings, and for me, it’s always been that physically where I am will inspire what the music sounds like, or what I’m writing about. I grew up in this crumbling house in the middle of nowhere, kind of near Grantham. I lived in that house since I was three, but my parents moved last year, and I think leaving your childhood home can feel super scary, but whilst we’ve been packing it away and moving out, it’s been such a nice moment to get back in touch with who I am at my core. I’ve taken all of those bits and brought them down to London, and I’ve been redefining what home means alongside the writing of this project. I feel like I have a bit more confidence in the fact that life is ever-changing, and life is chaos, and you’ve kind of just got to accept that and ride this wave of weird chaos. Home is having an amazing group of people to rely on and to lean on.

CQ: You’ve spoken about moving into a new house with your sisters and best friend. How did that closeness shape the way you were writing, both emotionally and practically, for this album?

 

HH: I feel like girlhood is such a constant through line of my life that is so ingrained in me. I have three sisters and I grew up alongside a ton of amazing girlies, and then went to an all-girls school. So coming into the music industry, which is kind of saturated with boys and men, can feel like the most intimidating thing.

 

Living in this house full of girlies and then going to work and being surrounded by dudes really reinforced that thing inside me that’s like, we really just have to shout so much louder to get anything heard.

 

I’ve been writing about my little sister Lulu, who’s struggled with the transition from girlhood to womanhood, as we all have, as I personally am still struggling with this transition from childhood and the safety of that, and then being unleashed into the real world and being like, well, I wasn’t really taught any of this at school, and I don’t know how to adult.

 

CQ: It almost feels like there’s a divine femininity to this, which maybe wasn’t as present in your previous work. I think with this, even the visuals, you’re tapping into a really beautiful, almost otherworldly kind of femininity, but also still laced with this darkness and grunginess. I like that you’re merging both of those worlds.

 

HH: To hear that, that’s such a compliment. In this industry, you don’t really get afforded time to just be with yourself and figure out what you want, and who you are. This past year I’ve just been afforded time and space to think and to grow as a person, and I feel more confident to be like, in a session, this is who I am, and I want it to sound like this, and I want it to represent me. It takes time to build that confidence as a young woman in the industry.

 

“I feel more confident to be like… this is who I am, and I want it to sound like this, and I want it to represent me. It takes time to build that confidence as a young woman in the industry.”

 

CQ: There’s a sense of shedding and becoming in this new record. What were you holding onto that you knew you had to let go of?

 

HH: The only thing that comes to mind is the sense of caring a bit less, in a weird way. Caring about the things that are within my control, and that matter. I spent such a long time caring about the types of songs that I was making, and how things were gonna be received, and whether it would be something that was commercially successful.

 

Earlier on, I felt a certain sense of expectation that was taken away after my first album, because I did that and I was really proud of it. Then there was no crazy blow-up moment like I think the label had maybe anticipated for me. But nothing bad happened, and then I was like, oh, a fresh start. I get to just do it again.

 

I think having been through that once and realising that it’s just music and it’s not life or death, and I’m going to be okay whether or not this goes platinum, it’s so freeing to be like, actually, I think the best music comes from when you just don’t give a fuck, and when you’re just having fun in the studio.

 

Personally I would like to be happy, and to make music that I love, and to share that with people who resonate with it. That is actually what I’m striving for.

 

“Cruel World”, Holly’s second album will be released on 10 April 2026

 

Read the full-length article in print Pre Order IMAGINE Magazine Issue Three