Holly Humberstone has been announced as the winner of the BRITs Rising Star Award. The 21-year-old artist was nominated alongside Lola Young and Bree Runway for the prestigious accolade. The Brit Awards have taken to Instagram to announce the winner, the post showed the singer proudly holding the award and confirmed that Humberstone would be performing at the ceremony.
The award is presented and supported by BBC Radio 1 and aims to showcase British artists who have not placed an album within the top 20 nor have had more than one single place within the top 20. This year, the winner for the award was presented by Clara Amfo via her show on BBC Radio 1. The BBC spoke with Humberstone concerning her recent win, the singer was interviewed after she first discovered the good news. When asked how it felt to join the ranks of the celebrated artists who have won the award in previous years, the singer replied, “I remember watching the Brits as a child and being in complete awe of all of the artists, so this is kind of mad.”
The singer was also questioned to describe life as an artist during lockdown, “It was really hard for me to grasp just what was going on. [During the pandemic] I felt like I was living two parallel lives. One of them was my career – I seemed to be doing OK on the internet and my statistics looked good or whatever – and the other one was me sitting at home, completely uninspired. So it was really strange coming out of lockdown and going straight into playing festivals, and seeing that there are actual, physical people who have listened to my music. That was something I’d never had before.”
Humberstone has risen as a standout artist from the recent pandemic and has carved out an avid audience since her first release. The singer released her first EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel on 14th August 2020 via the record label Platoon. In 2021 the singer signed with major labels Interscope and Polydor Records, soon after her second EP The Walls Are Way Too Thin was released on 12th November 2021.
Since the formation of her musical career, the singer has released a total of twelve singles, including a cover of the Radiohead track “Fake Plastic Trees”. The acoustic cover was released as a non-album track on 30th July 2020 and was accompanied by an intimate music video. As well as her recent BRIT win, the singer has also achieved success with other awards. The singer came in second place for BBC’s Sound of 2021 and was included in the running for YouTube artist on the rise.
Previous winners of the Rising Star award have included such artists as Jessie J, Sam Smith, Jorja Smith, James Bay and Adele. The accolade has been a staple of the popular music institution since the 28th Brit Awards held in 2008. The award was previously known as the Critic’s Choice Award, the winner is decided by a panel of professionals from all avenues of the music industry. The first-ever winner of the award was Grammy-Award winning artist Adele, the singer was nominated alongside Duffy and Foals.
Humberstone will be hitting the road in March 2022, the singer will embark on tour in support of Girl In Red. The tour will see Humberstone perform across the United States and Canada in over twenty-five cities. The “Scarlett” singer will then start her solo performances in the United Kingdom, Humberstone will begin her UK dates with a set in Manchester on 5th June 2022.
Holly Humberstone UK tour dates
05/06/2022 – Academy 2 – Manchester
06/06 – O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
17/07 – Finsbury Park – London
Click here to purchase tickets.
