Holly Humberstone is back with her second album Cruel World, alongside new single “Beauty Pageant”, a brutally honest take on the pressure to be perfect. It’s all about that moment when the performance ends and you’re left alone with yourself, no filter, no distractions.

The album leans into the highs and lows of love, messy, intense, sometimes beautiful, sometimes not, wrapped in a darker, almost gothic world inspired by old fairy tales and films.

Tracks like “Cruel World” and “To Love Somebody” (which she performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) show a shift in her writing. This time, it’s less about searching and more about figuring out what home actually means.

Now living in South-East London, Holly feels more grounded — and you can hear it. Cruel World still has the emotion she’s known for, but it’s steadier, more self-aware, and made to be played live after years of touring with artists like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo.

It feels like her most honest era yet!!