Holy Humberstone to Love Somebody 13th Floor Day new song

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone has announced her highly anticipated second album, Cruel World, set for release on 10 April 2026, accompanied by her new single, To Love Somebody. One of the defining voices of her generation, Humberstone returns with an album that explores the delicate interplay between pleasure and pain, chaos and acceptance, in a sonic world both intimate and cinematic.

Renowned for her meticulous songwriting—having received an Ivor Novello nomination for her debut EP Falling Asleep at the Wheel and winning the BRIT Rising Star Award in 2022—Holly has grown into a global phenomenon. Her lucid storytelling resonates far beyond the confines of her music, blending childhood memories, gothic imagery, and emotional vulnerability into songs that are both personal and universal.

Cruel World invites listeners into a darkly whimsical fairytale, where relics of childhood, lingering memories, and imagined monsters converge. Leading the album is the soaring single To Love Somebody, accompanied by a mesmerizing video directed by Silken Weinberg, known for work with Ethel Cain. Drawing inspiration from Victorian theatre, the Brothers Grimm, and Nosferatu, the track exemplifies Humberstone’s exploration of love as both grounding and destabilising. “To love somebody is to hurt somebody, and to lose somebody, well, at least you got to love somebody,” Holly explains. “Extreme happiness comes from knowing extreme sadness—that’s the tension of the record.”

Visually and thematically, the album is deeply rooted in nostalgia. Working alongside her sister Eleri and creative director Weinberg, Holly reimagines childhood objects—ballet shoes, Alice in Wonderland books, and films like Edward Scissorhands and James and the Giant Peach—into a playful, magical world that reframes her past.

From selling out Brixton Academy and Eventim Apollo, to touring North America supporting Olivia Rodrigo and Girl in Red, Humberstone has transformed early promise into undeniable international acclaim. Her debut album, Paint My Bedroom Black, reached the top three in the UK Albums Chart in 2023 and was lauded for its unflinching honesty about young adulthood.

Written through disciplined daily studio sessions with collaborator Rob Milton, Cruel World draws on themes of romantic, platonic, and feminine love, examining solidarity, devotion, and desire through gothic-inflected ballads like Die Happy, BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record in November.

Holly Humberstone’s Cruel World promises to solidify her status as a storyteller capable of transforming the personal into the profoundly universal—a haunting yet playful exploration of love, memory, and the complexities of growing up.