Holly Humberstone makes the extra songs count on Cruel World…So It Ends

I was happy with Cruel World ending where it did, and I’m still glad Holly Humberstone gave us five more songs. Cruel World…So It Ends, out on 13th November via Polydor, leaves the original album intact. The additions begin with ‘Too Cute To Be Lonely’, a single I’d happily put on twice in a row, and end with a furious breakup song in ‘Annihilation’.

The original album has more range than the romance of its lead singles suggests. I love the distance between ‘Die Happy’, where Holly sounds thrilled by the prospect of loving someone enough to scare herself, and ‘Lucy’, where she wants her sister to feel a little less lost. There’s room for ‘Drunk Dialling’ to find something funny in how badly she wants a reply, too. ‘Beauty Pageant’ lands harder after all of it. It’s a song about the work of being looked at, and after an album full of people wanting to be wanted, it’s a relief to hear Holly ask how much of herself she ought to give away.

Holly describes the songs she wrote with Rob Milton for the deluxe as an encore. The double LP leaves the original album on the first record and puts all five additions on one side of the second. I like the idea of getting up to change the record. It gives ‘Beauty Pageant’ time to sink in before Holly sends you back out for the night.

What the five new songs add

I’m working from previews and lyrics for the additions, and ‘Too Cute To Be Lonely’ is the one I’d go back to first. It’s bright, unashamed synth-pop, and the bit I like most takes place in somebody’s kitchen. Holly and the person she wants to stay with are already close enough for the rest of the party to lose its appeal. Then she brings up the dress, as if wearing something this good ought to settle whether she goes home alone. It’s funny because she’s serious. Holly would much rather keep dancing than ask outright.

On ‘Killing The Mood’, she has better luck. Where ‘Drunk Dialling’ finds her after a reply from someone who’s barely interested, here the attraction seems mutual. She’s enjoying herself enough to laugh off the idea of checking whether their star signs match. I like her impatience with the whole idea. She’s having a good night and would rather get on with it.

‘Terminally Yours’ and ‘Silver Sky’ follow the two singles. Of those two previews, ‘Silver Sky’ is the one I wanted more of. I’d like to hear where Holly takes the quieter passage in the full song.

‘Annihilation’ is the one I’d send to someone who loves Holly for her writing. The chorus gives the breakup the scale of a disaster, but the verses are full of details small enough to make you wince. In one, his mum still thinks he’s in education. Holly gives us enough to understand why everybody else finds him charming, then lets us spend a few minutes with the person who’s had enough of him. She’s hurt, she’s funny and she’s in no hurry to be gracious about any of it.

Cruel World…So It Ends review

I still prefer ‘Beauty Pageant’ as the original album’s ending. Holly spends much of the record writing about what people want from each other. The closer asks what happens when everybody wants something from you. I’d pause there on the digital edition and give it a moment before starting ‘Too Cute To Be Lonely’.

If you already know the album, I’d start at track 13. ‘Too Cute To Be Lonely’ is the one I’d replay first, but ‘Annihilation’ is the song I’m happiest Holly held back for this edition. It’s hard to imagine it doing its best work halfway through Cruel World. Here it gets to be the last thing you hear.

Listen to Cruel World…So It Ends.