Over the past few weeks, Holly Humberstone has played four-sold Omeara headline shows and lit up festival stages from Reading & Leeds to All Points East, with the “confidence and stature that defies [Evening Standard]” an artist who is performing to thousands of fans for the first time since becoming the breakthrough star of 2021. With her tattoo-lyric songwriting already connecting across the Atlantic, having sold out The Bowery Ballroom in NYC and Roxy Theatre in LA in just three minutes, the Grantham based artist is a superstar in waiting and today releases her “favourite” song to date, the colossal ‘Scarlett’. Lifted from her highly anticipated second EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, and produced by long-time collaborator Rob Milton, the track was written for her best friend Scarlett about a toxic relationship.
Through late night conversations and the power of female friendship, Holly helped Scarlett through the breakup, and has written a song with powerful immediacy and resonance, with lyrics: “we go together like bad British weather, on the one day I made plans”. ‘Scarlett’ is another example of Holly’s deep understanding of the art of storytelling, and signals the UK’s next great songwriting talent. Also known for distinctive and symbolic visuals, the official video shows Holly and Scarlett stealing an arctic truck from an airport hanger and driving off into the sunset, free.
LISTEN TO SCARLETT
PRE ORDER THE WALLS ARE WAY TOO THIN
“This track is my absolute favourite,” says Holly. “It’s a sod you to the guy that was going out with my closest friend Scarlett and it was written as they were breaking up. The relationship was totally one sided and lasted for years. Scarlett was all in and had pretty much planned their future and it was pretty clear to me that he was stringing her along, until he broke up with her in a really insensitive and heartless way. I was her closest confidant and so I knew everything she was feeling, and I’d see how passive he was with her at parties first hand. She vented to me for probably about a year and so I went through all the stages of a break up with her and watched as she slowly realised her worth and that he wasn’t worth her tears anymore. I wanted to write this one from her point of view. It’s a pretty positive song as it’s about her finally letting go, realising his many faults and taking back her life.
“Sonically and lyrically, Scarlett breaks away from the rest of the EP and in so many ways it feels like such a release,” adds Holly. “It was really important to me that the music video felt really empowering and a reminder that you can shake off anything rubbish going on in your life and be in control of your own destiny. Obviously the song is about Scarlett so she had to be in the video – especially after being named an ‘emotional grim reaper’ lol. The two of us break into an airport hanger, steal and spray paint an arctic truck, then I perform on the back of it as Scar drives it down the runway. It was honestly the most fun.”
