Holly Humberstone has released a brand new single called ‘London Is Lonely’ – you can listen to the heartbreaking number below.
After teasing it earlier in the month, the 21-year-old singer-songwriter has now released the poignant track in full, which documents the story of moving to London and feeling disconnected and isolated.
“I wrote ‘London Is Lonely’ back in February 2020 right before the pandemic hit here in the UK,” Humberstone said of the song. “I had just moved out of my childhood home down to London and had spent the past few months feeling really trapped and alone in my tiny flat with strangers. London felt so intense and although there were so many people around me, I felt even more isolated and like I didn’t belong.
“I kind of lost myself in the city. I didn’t exactly know who I was anymore, and so going home and writing felt like my safe space to process everything. It’s funny now listening to the song almost two years on, post-pandemic, and feeling like nothing much has changed at all.”
She concluded: “I’m still trying to find my place here and make it my home and so it felt right to put this song out into the world right now, when so many other people are probably feeling lost right now too.”
You can listen to ‘London Is Lonely’ below, as well as watching Humberstone perform it live.
‘London Is Lonely’ comes as Humberstone gears up to release her debut album, which, as the Lincolnshire native told NME last year, was nearing completion but a while off from hitting shelves.
“An album is a really daunting thought,” she admitted. “Being done with my debut album and having that much work, and all of it being final, is so scary – so I think it’s going to be a while [before it’s released].
“I’ve had loads of time now to just experiment and try different things out, and to have fun with my writing without the pressure.”
Humberstone’s latest release, her second EP, ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’, came out last November via Polydor/Darkroom/Interscope. It included the singles ‘Scarlett’, ‘Please Don’t Leave Just Yet’ (a co-write with Matty Healy of The 1975), ‘Haunted House’ and the title track.
In a four-star review of ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’, NME praised the EP – the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’ – as “a light-hearted ode to how Humberstone sees that heartbreak is behind her and hope is always just ahead, a flame that keeps reigniting despite all attempts to extinguish it.”
The record also made it to NME’s list of the best EPs and mixtapes of 2021, while her upcoming full-length is one of our 20 albums to get excited about in 2022.
December saw Humberstone crowned as the winner of this year’s BRITs Rising Star Award. The singer-songwriter follows in the hallowed footsteps of other artists who have won the prize, including the likes of Adele, Celeste, Florence & The Machine, Sam Fender, Ellie Goulding, and last year’s winner Griff.
The day she received the award, Humberstone teamed up with Sam Fender for an acoustic version of the latter’s hit single ‘Seventeen Going Under’.
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