Colin 
Holly Humberstone has unveiled her new single ‘Die Happy’, a gothic love song that feels like stepping into a dark fairytale where beauty and danger exist side by side. The visualiser, directed by Silken Weinberg, who also worked with Ethel Cain, opens a new chapter for one of the UK’s most compelling young artists.
From the moment it begins, ‘Die Happy’ feels steeped in shadow and allure. The production is cinematic, balancing ghostly echoes with a heartbeat rhythm that drives the story forward. Holly’s vocal sits close and deliberate, guiding the listener through a world of love, risk, and surrender. The song captures what she describes as “throwing yourself into love fully and recklessly,” a line that defines both its intensity and its honesty.
Holly wrote ‘Die Happy’ while imagining a fairytale at night, somewhere between “driving fast with the windows down” and “wandering through a crumbling old house.” Influenced by The Bloody Chamber and Dracula, she wanted the song to live in that uneasy space where devotion feels dangerous. It’s a space her writing thrives in, blurring the line between beauty and destruction, between control and surrender.
A new season for a defining voice
Since emerging with her breakthrough EP Falling Asleep at the Wheel, Holly has built a body of work that feels deeply cinematic and emotionally sharp. Her storytelling has carried her from the echoing halls of her family home in Grantham to festival stages across the world. Performances at Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Wembley Stadium supporting Taylor Swift have placed her among the most vital voices of her generation.
Now 25, Holly enters a period of creative rebirth. She describes this era as a moment of stepping out of girlhood and into womanhood, with ‘Die Happy’ marking that transition through sound and feeling. Where her debut album Paint My Bedroom Black captured turbulence and dislocation, this new chapter carries stability and confidence. Holly has said that “in order to feel extreme happiness, you have to know extreme sadness,” and the single lives within that truth.
Her career so far has been remarkable. From winning the BRIT Rising Star Award in 2022 and earning an Ivor Novello nomination for ‘Haunted House’, to her top-three debut album Paint My Bedroom Black, Holly has become known for her fearless writing and emotional precision. She has sold out Brixton Academy, headlined Eventim Apollo, and toured extensively across North America. Later this year, she will join Sam Fender on his Australian tour while also playing her own headline dates, giving fans their first taste of new music in two years.
Review
‘Die Happy’ feels like Holly at her most daring. The track unfolds with patience and confidence, letting the tension rise naturally. Her voice carries both strength and vulnerability, layered with harmonies that twist around the melody like candlelight. The arrangement is dark yet fluid, drawing from gothic imagery while staying rooted in personal emotion.
What makes the song special is its restraint. Holly never overplays the drama. Instead, she lets every note suggest something larger underneath. The lyrics ache with longing, but the delivery stays calm, measured, and deeply human. It’s a song that finds freedom in intensity and beauty in surrender.
‘Die Happy’ marks the sound of an artist who knows exactly where she’s headed. The world she creates feels richer and more self-assured than ever before, blending intimacy with grandeur. As she moves into this next phase, Holly Humberstone sounds ready to define her own era.