HOLLY HUMBERSTONE - CRUEL WORLD
Cruel World is clean, and it’s polished, but the record is laced with a plethora of musical quirks that, alongside a couple of pop epics, just about keep it interesting.
The third record is often a watershed moment, a change to push out from your comfort zone and explore the more complex, experimental regions of your talent. Holly Humberstone’s third record finds her largely back where she left off, but with a noticeable sonic improvement and a cooler, more assured presence.
What makes Humberstone more interesting than her peers is not just that she makes heartbreak sound cool, but that she consistently weaves something broader about her life and society into concepts that, on the surface, appear straightforward.
In Cruel World, Humberstone uses this to explore the pressure she faces as a young woman, with the fact that she is still young acting as the driving force behind much of the record. She pushes back against both internal and external pressures in relationships, in her career, and in the expectations placed upon her.
The opening track, ‘Make It All Better’, sets this up very literally. It is a simple love song in a way you perhaps don’t see as much in the indie scene anymore. It oozes the feeling of being in a fresh relationship, and the song grows alongside that excitement, gradually introducing new musical elements as it progresses. It culminates in a dance-like electro-breakdown, suggesting that Humberstone is trying to push out of her box early on, before being reined back in; a pattern that subtly mirrors the album as a whole.
This is consistent throughout. As much as something interesting can certainly be drawn from it, it often feels like the album is missing something, and that it’s aware of that absence. You are teased with great moments, only for them to be pulled away just as quickly, which creates both intrigue and a slight sense of frustration.
That isn’t to say there aren’t fully realised highlights; there are some genuine standout songs. The title track, ‘Cruel World’, arrives at just the right moment and works as the album’s central hook. It’s one of those proper pop tunes, the kind that even the wannabe cool indie-boys can’t help but keep in rotation. The track feels euphoric in its portrayal of a long-distance relationship, pairing emotional distance with sonic lift, and includes some evocative lyrical quips: “And now the lights are getting low/Mirrorballs and pheromones.”
It’s only one song later that the album peaks. ‘Die Happy’ is, without a doubt, the standout track. Humberstone cited Dracula as a source of inspiration in the writing process here, and it shows. The song feels dramatic and gothic in tone, while still being sonically reminiscent of some tortured poet or another:
“So I hit the gas, I want it fast, want it reckless/Now all that matters is your name on my necklace/And if we crash and kiss the dash, baby, tragically/To die with you is to, die happy.”
It's from this point that Cruel World suffers the most. The record struggles to push on from its peak, settling into a stretch that feels more like treading water than building momentum.
Songs like ‘White Noise’ and ‘Lucy’ help break up the album, with the former leaning more upbeat and the latter stripped back, but neither quite rises to the challenge of moving things forward. Instead, they feel like missed opportunities rather than necessary breathing space.
‘White Noise’ in particular feels like it should hit harder. There’s a version of it that’s punchy, one that draws more fully on the dance elements teased earlier in ‘Make It All Better’, but the track never quite gets there, coming across flatter than it ought to.
The rest of Cruel World leaves relatively little to talk about, with much of the lyricism beginning to feel cheaper and the record failing to offer anything you haven’t already heard in the opening four songs. ‘Red Chevy’, however, provides a brief moment of relief. Its exceptional chorus is delivered with such force that the cry to “kiss me like you fucking mean it” feels strikingly real. The track carries a weight that much of the latter half lacks, serving as a reminder of what more of this record could have showcased.
The album then finishes on a run of ballads, with the ‘Beauty Pageant’ acting as an elegant closer, which Humberstone herself correctly describes: “it sounds like the curtains closing and going into my dressing room at the end of a show, taking all my makeup off and sitting with myself in silence after everybody’s left.” It’s a fitting image, and one the song largely lives up to in it atmosphere and restraint.
The idea behind this closing track, and to an extent, the album as a whole, is strong. Musically, it often delivers on that vision; however, while there are clear highlights and moments of real quality, Cruel World ultimately struggles to come together as a fully convincing whole. It holds many of the right elements, but never quite shapes them into a cohesive story, and fails to maintain the high quality set by its early track.
Josh Parsonage
★★★☆☆