Holly Humberstone on her debut album: “I'm closing in on it”
Before she took the stage at the BRIT Awards 2022, Holly Humberstone caught up with NME to talk about celebrating female talent, debut album progress and working with Sam Fender. Watch our full interview with Humberstone above.
The Grantham singer-songwriter was at the London ceremony to pick up this year’s Rising Star Award, after the success of 2021’s ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’ EP.
“Pretty surreal, it’s bizarre to even be here I watched the BRITs as a kid with my sisters,” she said of attending the ceremony. “It’s mad, I’m pinching myself I can’t believe I’m really here I feel so lucky.”
Humberstone shared her excitement over being nominated alongside Bree Runway and Lola Young and how happy she was about the female artists being celebrated this year.
“I think it’s great, I feel very lucky to be nominated beside two incredible female artists,” she told NME. “There have been so many amazing, especially female artists that have been releasing music during the past few years that I’ve looked to for inspiration and encouragement, they’re both more than deserving of an award.”
Asked about when she’ll release new music, she opened up about the “scary” task of writing her debut album.
“I guess I’m trying to put together a bit of an album,” she shared. “I’ve released two EPs so far and it’s really fun because I like to write songs and not have them sat on my phone for too long before releasing them because I get bored really quickly. It’s nice because it’s like a little time capsule then it goes out into the world and I don’t have to think too much about it.”
She continued: “But for some reason, the idea of an album is so intense, quite scary, and quite official. It has to be perfect, I’m such a perfectionist. I’ve got enough for an album but I think I can beat myself and do better and write better songs and I’ve had a few months now to write and just experiment and have fun.
“I think I’m closing in on it but I don’t ever think I’ll feel like I’m done writing I’ll always feel like I’ve got more to give I think someone is just gonna have to stay stop writing you’ve got it let’s put it out. But yeah, a scary concept.”
As far as the sound of the album, Humberstone said that she’s going with her instincts and not overthinking it.
“I’m just trying not to think about it too much. I’m trying to make the music I’m into at the moment. If the lyrics are honest and real and I’m writing about things I really care about then I think it will connect.”
Humberstone also talked to NME about if she’d like to collaborate with anyone else at the ceremony.
“I’ve been lucky to collab with Sam who’s amazing,” she said, noting their acoustic version of his hit song ’Seventeen Going Under’. When asked if she’d worked Fender again, she laughed, “No he’s horrible,” before adding, “I’m kidding of course I would. I would love to. He’s such a lovely guy, an incredible writer.”
After chatting with NME, Humberstone gave a beautiful performance of her song ‘London Is Lonely’. Watch our full interview above, and check back at NME for more interviews from the BRIT Awards 2022.
