Music

Holly Humberstone Shares Stunning Title Track From Highly Anticipated Album ‘Cruel World’

Mar 13, 2026

Holly Humberstone releases “Cruel World” today, the title track from her highly anticipated second album, due April 10. Directed by Silken Weinberg and set on a Victorian theatre stage, the video follows Holly as she quietly attempts to sabotage the unfolding production. It is a perfect visual companion to a song that sits at the emotional centre of the record. Humberstone leaves no ambiguity about what it means to her: “This is the dichotomy of pain and pleasure. Love is so painful at its core and this is the throughline of my record. This is my favourite song I’ve ever written.”

The track follows last month’s “To Love Somebody,” a visceral opening statement inspired by Victorian theatre, Brothers Grimm, and Nosferatu, also directed by Weinberg and recently performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Together the two singles frame what ‘Cruel World’ is: a dark fairytale world of Holly’s own making, where childhood relics, monsters, and memory collide. Gothic-leaning tracks like BBC Radio 1 Hottest Record “Die Happy” further map the territory, exploring devotion, danger, and desire with the forensic lyrical precision that earned Humberstone an Ivor Novello nomination and the BRIT Rising Star award in 2022.

‘Cruel World’ was written through daily studio sessions with collaborator Rob Milton, drawing deeply on romantic, platonic, and feminine love. The album’s visual world was built alongside her sister Eleri and Silken Weinberg, rooted in childhood trinkets unearthed while leaving the family home, from ballet shoes to Alice in Wonderland books and films like Edward Scissorhands and James and the Giant Peach.

Humberstone has sold out her entire UK run, including London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on April 2, and carries that momentum into major festival appearances at Coachella, Governors Ball, Mad Cool, and Ejekt Festival this summer. She has previously sold out Brixton Academy and the Eventim Apollo, supported Taylor Swift at Wembley, and joined Sam Fender on his Australian tour. ‘Cruel World’ is available for pre-order now.

Holly Humberstone Tour Dates:

Mar 20 – Liverpool @ Rough Trade (SOLD OUT)

Mar 21 – Nottingham @ The Level

Mar 22 – Oxford @ O2 Academy 1

Mar 24 – Birmingham @ O2 Academy 2

Mar 25 – Brighton @ Chalk

Mar 26 – Kingston @ Circuit (SOLD OUT)

Mar 29 – Glasgow @ Old Fruitmarket (SOLD OUT)

Mar 30 – Manchester @ New Century Hall (SOLD OUT)

Apr 1 – Bristol @ Electric (SOLD OUT)

Apr 2 – London @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (SOLD OUT)

Apr 12 – Coachella, CA