A third of the way through her debut album, 鈥淧aint My Bedroom Black,鈥� pop singer Holly Humberstone initiates a sort of slow dance, but one set in an anxious daydream.
鈥淲hen you found me I was a train wreck / You gathered my bones in a blanket,鈥� she sings on 鈥淜issing in Swimming Pools,鈥� as if whispering in someone鈥檚 ear. 鈥淪o, can we kiss in your swimming pool? In this bathing suit, I would die for you.鈥�
The song鈥檚 steady rhythm and candid lyrics are soothing but also worried 鈥� a tone that captures the rest of Humberstone鈥檚 debut, due out Friday. Across 13 tracks, Humberstone allows herself to wallow in the confusion of maintaining new and old relationships. And she isn鈥檛 afraid to own the suffocating nature of that uncertainty. But she's also building a new world, ushering in a reset. As she sings on album鈥檚 title track, 鈥淗ere鈥檚 to new horizons.鈥�
Humberstone, 23, first established a fanbase in 2020 with the release of her EP 鈥淔alling Asleep at the Wheel.鈥� In 2022, she was awarded the BRIT鈥檚 Rising Star award, adding to a lineage that includes , Sam Smith and Florence + The Machine.
She supported Girl in Red and on tour that year, joining Rodrigo on the second leg of her 鈥淪our鈥� tour after an opening stint by Gracie Abrams. Beyond sharing the stage, these artists also belong to the same class of young talent as Humberstone, songwriters whose frank lyrics about young love and growing up have shaped a new era of soft pop.
She鈥檚 also among those artists whose music largely found its audience during pandemic lockdowns 鈥� when the yearning and uncertainty of youth was perhaps at its most relatable.
The end of 鈥淕host Me鈥� has a pleading quality reminiscent of some of the aching tracks on It relies on an upbeat repetition to create an urgency that feels poignant. It also expertly captures the trials of modern communication, as Humberstone references doomscrolling through a camera roll alongside cycling through her own memories.
As the track fades to ambient sounds, a voice memo from a friend of Humberstone鈥檚 begins: 鈥淭here鈥檚 this SpongeBob line which I always think of, and it鈥檚 this guy who鈥檚 really sad, and he goes: 鈥業 was born with paper skin and bones made out of glass, every day I wake up and I shatter my ankles,鈥� or something like that. Like he鈥檚 really sad, I鈥檒l find it now. But that鈥檚 how I feel at the moment.鈥�
Set against Humberstone鈥檚 lyrics, there鈥檚 a poetic, heartbreaking quality to that statement. In actuality, that (often referenced on social media) quote is from a 2002 鈥淪pongeBob鈥� episode called 鈥淐hocolate with Nuts,鈥� and that guy (fish?) is a con artist attempting to swindle SpongeBob and his starfish best friend, Patrick.
There may be something to be said, then, about the gullibility required of contemporary relationships, especially very-online ones. But the recording's inclusion is fitting, a knowing nod to Humbestone鈥檚 youth. As she sings earlier in the track, 鈥淎nd where the hell did our childhood go? It freaks me out, how fast we grow.鈥�
The 13 tracks on 鈥淧aint My Bedroom Black鈥� live within the same atmosphere, one that is woven out of layered and pulsing productions of synthetic sounds, rich drum beats and Humberstone's strong vocals. But they are also different enough to paint a complex portrait of a young woman going through something, one who will paint her bedroom black not to hide from the outside world 鈥� but to drown out distraction. And open herself up to it.
Elise Ryan, The Associated Press
