Holly Humberstone - ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ Review: Ghosting, toxicity & self-awareness
Holly’s debut is a stunning take on grappling with the difficult life lessons that come in your early 20s nowadays. Detailing and unpacking ghosting, toxicity and self awareness.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Credit: Holly Humberstone 📸
Sad-indie fans will be happy to know Holly Humberstone is back. This time with her hotly anticipated debut full-length album Paint My Bedroom Black.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time, releasing on the 13th of October, at the beginning of Autumn. The nights are closing in, icy cold wind is lashing against the window and puddles are littering the streets.
Holly’s album is a 42-minute depiction of grappling with the confusion, self-discovery and turmoil that comes in your early 20s. Even more so when you’re touring the world as a BRIT-worthy rising star, at only 23.
Following the path of a new wave of female artists, ushered in by Taylor Swift, Holly creates atmospheric world-building across her poignant songwriting and intimate vocals.
Paint My Bedroom Black is as much self-confessional as it is a call to arms. Holly wrestles with her wrongdoings in a past relationship and struggles to find herself in the modern world.
Often saying she resonates with female artists who overshare the most, this album is no different. And all those moments are tied together in a collective storybook of thoughts.
:: Track By Track ::
The album bounces through a collection of influences. Drawing elements from The Strokes (Cocoon), Phoebe Bridgers (Elvis Impersonators) and a sadder version of Olivia Rodrigo (Flatlining). Cigarettes After Sex, The Japanese House and Lana Del Ray are also front of mind when listening.
Sprinkled across 13 tracks, there are several hidden-gem anthems. Into Your Room, Cocoon, Flatlining and Girl are all as deep as they are singalong bops.
It’s clear the narrative told is self-confessional; every song delivers as the four walls of a confession box. There’s a Taylor-esque take on heartbreak and every song progresses the racing mind of Holly.
Holly Humberstone has nailed where her vocals and storytelling mesh perfectly. What comes together is an album that’s coherent yet full of small surprises. All while keeping you grounded with a sense of familiarity with the artist.
Album opener Paint My Bedroom Black, sets the scene and establishes the environment. Into Your Room sees Humberstone confessing her love for an ex, yet still remains a person at the centre of her universe. It’s soft, relatable and raw.
Cocoon then leans into an Autumnal spirit, with a dose of hopeful acceptance of understanding where she’s at in life. The chorus lyric ‘I’m just going through something’ can already be heard on stages everywhere.
A track we have mixed opinions on is Kissing In The Swimming Pool. In the album story, it serves as a beautiful breakpoint, again writing incredibly vulnerably. It’s actually one of the strongest tracks lyrically. But, stylistically, it sounds too much like Fade Into You by Mazzy Star or I Lied by Lord Hurron. In a way, the reference to these other artists also makes it even more sincere.
Ghost Me and Superbloodmoon are shorter, both of which reveal an element of empowerment. The latter actually features her first-ever collaboration on an album, with D4vd. It’s the sad-indie crossover you didn’t know you needed.
Antichrist, an obvious nod to Taylor Swift, sees Holly admitting she’s the problem. Lauren proceeds to pick up the pace and delivers one of the best lines on the album:
‘You should never trust a girl who has a mattress on the floor and a thousand unread messages’
Talking in an interview, Holly explained she “basically felt like the worst person in the world; like the Antichrist. I really felt that I was toxic to be around, and the guilt and self-loathing that came with that manifested itself in this song.”
One of our favourites is Flatlining, a track which lives and breathes Billie Eilish. The clever use of a pounding synth drum to resemble a heartbeat is definitely a Finneas move. By this point in the album, Humberstone is coming to terms with the fact she can’t be friends with this ex-lover.
Then, Elvis Impersonators challenges that belief. She has a change of heart and begins to reminisce over old inside jokes. This is another favourite. It shows Holly at her best, and the subtle wedding connotations around ‘Elvis’ are a nice touch.
The penultimate track, Girl, finds Holly visiting the most insecure version of herself. She’s pining to be the perfect woman and longing for a perfect world. A world in which she can be with her ex-lover, despite everything that’s happened. After hearing her confessional stories of self-sabotage, this one may make you tear up.
Things come to a swift conclusion with Room Service, one of the original singles to promote the album.
After the rollercoaster of emotions, Holly visualises a place where she can order her favourite comfort food. A moment which would allow her to again romanticise simpler times. And begin planning the future.
A fitting way to end a debut album, looking to the future. One which is shining bright for the young singer.
:: Round-Up ::
Holly Humberstone’s debut is nothing less than stunning.
While there were times when tracks sounded almost too similar to other artists, an exception can be made. As Holly gathers elements from her favourite people, it won’t be long until she’s in fact the leader.
All the cards are on the table. Quite frankly, Holly isn’t an artist to be overlooked in the next 5 years. This is an ideal introduction to her future catalogue, now we want to see a big leap with album no 2.
Song Highlights:
Flatlining
Elvis Impersonators
Into Your Room
Now, it’s your turn. Give it a spin, and tell us what you think on Insta or X.
Rating: 8/10
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