I was excited for Holly Humberstone’s new release after being a big fan of her last album. However, ‘Cruel World’ unfortunately fell short of my expectations. There are a couple of stand-out tracks - mainly the singles she has released, such as ‘To Love Somebody’ and ‘Cruel World’, which prove she can deviate from indie rock to pen a pop anthem. However, most of the album is a commercial blur that seems to lose grip of the strong sense of authenticity that drew me to Humberstone in the first place. A couple of lyrics made me wince - “I need you like a teenager needs weed” is not her best work… LT

Out now on Polydor