Cruel World

We want artists to grow and evolve. That said, it can be tricky to toe the line between growing at a rate that outpaces your audience — taking your music in new directions that can alienate fans of your previous work — and remaining stagnant. The right amount of growth differs for everyone, so it's impossible to develop a fool-proof formula; the gamble is always there.On her sophomore album Cruel World, UK indie pop darling Holly Humberstone takes the kind of risks so well-calculated that it seems like she somehow cracked the code and made it into science — except, as aforementioned, it's the exact kind of thing that can't be replicated; what made lightning strike now may never again.But when it comes to Humberstone, it's best practice to never say never. She first emerged just before the pandemic hit with her spine-chilling debut single "Deep End," about supporting one of her three sisters in a mental health crisis. Before anyone could blink, the Grantham native had amassed a cult following, a collaboration with the 1975's Matty Healy and a spot opening for Olivia Rodrigo's first headline tour. Humberstone took her time to release her first studio full-length, 2023's Paint My Bedroom Black, and by 2024, she was opening for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.Paint My Bedroom Black wasn't a record without risks of its own — including single-track forays into UK garage and DnB, respectively — and while it was impressive, in retrospect, none of those songs really stand up to other entries in Humberstone's œuvre, like "Deep End," "Scarlett," "Falling Asleep at the Wheel" or "The Walls Are Way Too Thin."Thankfully, the same can't be said for Cruel World. Where Paint My Bedroom Black leaned into the electronica-forward, backlit textures that have long been present in the artist's music, her sophomore LP embraces the more straightforward impulses of her pristine pop songcraft — to results that feel more jubilant and whimsical than anything else she's ever done.This is not to say that Humberstone has shed the oft-derided "sad girl" part of her persona (the record is called Cruel World, after all). No, Humberstone is still entirely who fans have known her as, she's simply matured a little — and realized that even quote-unquote sad girls can experience the full spectrum of human emotions; in fact, some might say those with the sensitivity to feel the lows the lowest can also be lifted even higher by the highs."They tell you that you feel too much / Euphoria right down to the crush," she sings on the sublime "To Love Somebody" — which feels like hearing Taylor Swift's "Fearless" for the first time as a tween all over again — with longtime producer Rob Milton layering her voice to sound like an echoing crowd as she chants, "It all breaks down / It always does! / It all works out / It always does!"Aside from landing in the upper echelon of Humberstone's discography, this song and the title track are both textbook, endlessly likeable examples of the type of writing and execution that feels both timely and timeless. The singer-songwriter has long been a master of the timeliness, peppering little pop culture references into her lyrics to planting us in a moment in time — even just using a term like "feedback loop" lends "Cruel World" an unforced degree of specificity, while the playful bongo rhythm and twinkling synths feel like a tropicalía-indebted take on '80s yacht rock (there's even a very Kenny G sax moment on "Red Chevy"). Picking up where Paint My Bedroom Black's breakbeats left off on the skeletal, earnest love song "Make It All Better," she cheekily sings, "Send me flowers / Send me nudes."Fans of Humberstone's longstanding dedication to songs that pass the Bechdel test won't be disappointed, either: "Lucy" continues the pattern of a track in each collection being named after an important woman in her life (in this case, one of her sisters), while the tinny jewelry box melody of closer "Beauty Pageant" grows grandiose, examining the impossible standards she feels held to; "It's far too complicated of an issue to really boil down into three minutes, but it was my attempt to show it from my perspective as a girl in this world that isn't really built for us," she explained to Rolling Stone."Too young, too sad / Too dumb to stand a chance," Humberstone belts amidst the swell of strings in the final chorus, stretching onto the tiptoes of her falsetto to plead, "Come on and make me pretty." It's a humiliation ritual women know too well, looking to the sky and begging, cheeks burning with embarrassment. This the exact kind of yearning desperation the musician always been adept at conveying with her words and delivery, still perfectly intact six years into a young career whirlwind.Whether it's carrying on in the grand tradition of "Dancing on My Own" with the thrumming heartbreak mantra of "White Noise" or revelling in the Cure-esque gothic romance on "Die Happy," Holly Humberstone is in the business of making pop music that resonates, respecting the drama of big feelings while never taking herself overly seriously. An old soul in a "chronically online" ("Beauty Pageant") world, her songs are tiny, self-contained universes to live inside, the cruelty that awaits back where your feet are making them taste all the sweeter.