Grantham’s own Holly Humberstone isn’t finished with her dark fairytale just yet. The singer-songwriter has announced a deluxe edition of her No.4 album Cruel World, led by a glittering new single made for the dance floor.
Cruel World…So It Ends arrives on 13 November 2026 with five brand-new tracks, and the first of them, “Too Cute To Be Lonely”, is out now. It’s Holly at her brightest yet: a euphoric, alt-pop rush that tips its hat to ABBA, Madonna and Robyn without losing the sharp, detail-rich songwriting that made her name.
In January she takes the record on the road across the UK and Ireland, with Chloe Qisha supporting on every date, before a headline show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 26 January 2027.
Too Cute To Be Lonely
The video is directed by Silken Weinberg, who created the enchanting, shadowy fairytale world of Cruel World with Holly and her sister Eleri Humberstone. This time, the camera follows the story into its next chapter.
For Holly, the fairytale was never going to simply end; it turns the page. She describes Cruel World as a journey of self-discovery and of finding confidence in her own voice, and says the new songs feel “more confident and self assured”.
The original album opened with a girl sitting at a bar. By “Beauty Pageant” she had become a performer, in a third-person, autobiographical look back at Holly’s whirlwind last five years. So It Ends picks up where that story left off.
A year inside Cruel World
Released in April, Cruel World debuted at No.4 on the UK Albums Chart and has since passed 83 million streams. It’s a richly detailed record about love, longing and self-discovery, and the fine line between pain and pleasure, where devotion slides into obsession and comfort into chaos.
Holly brought it to life on Later… with Jools Holland, the season one finale of SNL UK and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Over the summer she released it’s a real Cruel World, an intimate EP reimagining four fan favourites: “White Noise”, “Red Chevy”, “Cruel World” and “To Love Somebody”.
Then came a packed festival season: Reading & Leeds, a support slot for The War On Drugs at BST Hyde Park, Summer Sonic, Mad Cool, All Things Go and Governors Ball, plus headline dates across North America. In December she joins Gracie Abrams for three nights at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
From a Grantham “haunted house” to the world stage
Place has always been at the heart of Holly’s songwriting. Her breakthrough EP, Falling Asleep At The Wheel, was a portrait of growing up in a rambling, reputedly haunted family home in Grantham with her sisters. Songs like “Vanilla”, “Overkill” and “Deep End” marked her out as a diarist of the small details that make up big emotions.
That debut EP earned an Ivor Novello nomination, and in 2022 she won the BRIT Rising Star award, performing “London Is Lonely” live at the ceremony. Tours supporting Olivia Rodrigo and Girl in Red followed, along with stadium dates with Sam Fender and Taylor Swift. Her 2023 debut album, Paint My Bedroom Black, reached No.3. Much of it was written in hotel rooms, as she lived the life she had imagined as a girl.
Now 26, Holly has made a home of her own in South-East London, restoring a dilapidated house with her sisters and her best friend, Scarlett. Where her debut was full of turbulence and longing, Cruel World is rooted in stability and routine. It was also written with the stage in mind, its layered backing vocals shaped by years on the road.
For us at Anne Louise Magazine, founded in Grantham in 2009, it’s a particular joy to watch a hometown talent carry the town’s name to stages from Brixton to Los Angeles. However far the fairytale travels, Grantham will always be cheering her on.
The Cruel World…So It Ends tour
- Sat 16 January 2027: Cardiff, University Great Hall
- Sun 17 January 2027: Manchester, Academy
- Tue 19 January 2027: Belfast, Limelight
- Wed 20 January 2027: Dublin, 3Olympia
- Fri 22 January 2027: Birkenhead, Future Yard
- Sat 23 January 2027: Newcastle, NX
- Sun 24 January 2027: Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
- Tue 26 January 2027: London, O2 Academy Brixton
The details
Cruel World…So It Ends, the deluxe edition with five new tracks, is released on 13 November 2026. “Too Cute To Be Lonely” and its video are out now. Pre-order here. The UK and Ireland tour runs from 16 to 26 January 2027, with support from Chloe Qisha. Tickets here.
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