Entertainment · Music · 1 hr ago
Holly Humberstone says pop stars can seem too polished to connect with
British singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone says overly polished pop stars can be hard to relate to.
She has spoken about feeling uprooted after her parents sold the family home in Lincolnshire and moved to Wales.
The house was where she wrote her early EPs and found the sound that shaped her music.
Clearing out 23 years of family belongings left her having what she called an identity crisis almost every week.
She channelled those feelings into her second album, Cruel World, which reached number four in the UK charts earlier this year.
Its closing song, Beauty Pageant, explores the pressure of beauty standards on female artists.
Humberstone says writing the songs gave her a sense of protection, but no further plans are described.
Holly Humberstone says pop stars can seem too polished for people to connect with.
She said she was having an identity crisis almost weekly after her parents sold her childhood home.
Humberstone channelled her feelings about leaving the house into her second album, Cruel World.
The album entered the UK charts at number four earlier this year.
- Who
- Holly Humberstone, a singer-songwriter.
- What
- She says people can find pop stars too polished to connect with.
- When
- The article was published on 15 November 2026.
- Where
- Not stated
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Humberstone spent the year packing up belongings from her family’s childhood home.
Cruel World entered the UK charts at number four.
- Album
- Cruel World
- UK chart position
- Number four
- Childhood home
- Outside Grantham, Lincolnshire
- Family relocation
- Her parents moved to Wales
What people are saying
I felt uprooted. I was having some sort of identity crisis almost weekly
Writing these songs felt like building myself a little shield and a kind of safety bubble