Brit Awards: Holly Humberstone wins the rising star prize

Singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone has won the Brit Awards' Rising Star prize, which recognises pop's most promising ones to watch.

The 21-year-old, from Lincolnshire, was a breakout star of the pandemic, with intimate, atmospheric songs that earned her comparisons to Lorde and Bon Iver.

She joins the likes of Adele, Florence + The Machine and Sam Fender in winning the rising star award.

"I'm kind of freaking out," she told the BBC, "but I'm on top of the world."

The award, supported by BBC Radio 1, recognises British artists who had not achieved a top 20 album or more than one top 20 single by 31 October this year.

Bree Runway and Lola Young were also shortlisted for the prize, originally known as Critics' Choice.

A former violinist for the Lincolnshire Youth Symphony Orchestra, Humberstone was spotted by a manager after performing on her local BBC Introducing radio show.

That led to an appearance at Glastonbury, where Lewis Capaldi fell in love with her music and invited her to join him on tour at the start of 2020.

Her first song, Deep End, only came out a couple of weeks before lockdown - but her introspective, acutely detailed lyrics struck a chord during that initial period of isolation.

By the end of the year, her debut EP, Falling Asleep At The Wheel, had been streamed 65 million times, earning her second place on the BBC Sound of 2021.

She followed it up with this year's Walls Are Way Too Thin EP, which upped the emotional stakes and melodic sophistication - especially on the standout track, Scarlett, a tribute to her best friend as she navigated a devastating break-up.

We caught up with the singer shortly after she found out she'd won her (first) Brit Award, to find out her reaction, and her plans for 2022.

Hi Holly! Congratulations on winning the Rising Star prize. How does it feel?

Oh my God. I'm kind of freaking out. I'm not processing it very well. But I'm just so so happy. I'm so chuffed. I'm on top of the world.

Sam Fender broke the news to you. How did that come about?

Sam was really kind and asked me to be on the acoustic version of his song Seventeen Going Under, which is just a stunning song. And so we were recording that together and he suddenly just said, "Oh, surprise, you've won the Brit Award!"

It took me back a little bit, but it was so cool because Sam won it a couple years ago. He's such an inspiration to me. I look up to him, for sure.

What's it like to have your name listed alongside all those previous winners like Adele, Sam Smith and Rag 'N' Bone Man?

I remember watching the Brits as a child and being in complete awe of all of the artists, so this is kind of mad.

But after a year full of anxiety and self-doubt it's lovely to have some recognition from the Brits that I'm doing OK.

When I spoke to you this time last year, you'd already recorded most of the songs on your EP. So have you got more new music ready to go?

There is a lot more - but the problem is I'm such a perfectionist. There's something quite terrifying about the thought of an album: I will never feel like it's finished, or that I've done all of the writing for it. So who knows when that will come out? Hopefully next year.

But we'll see. I think you can overthink it. I think that idea of an EP being a time capsule should also apply to an album.

Your career started in lockdown. What was it like to finally play for an audience again this summer?

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.

I wanted to ask you about the video for Scarlett, where you're hanging out the back of a moving truck playing guitar. I had to watch that through my fingers, 'cos I was worried you were about to fall out.

Honestly, me too! I don't know why but I have all of these wild ideas and then when it comes to actually doing it, I hate myself for it! But that day was amazing. I was actually strapped in, so I wasn't about to fly off the vehicle, but it was hard to stay upright.

How many bruises did you have at the end of it?

I didn't have any, actually. I got away lightly. But I got extremely bruised on The Walls Are Way Too Thin video shoot. That was painful. I was in that tiny crawl space and it was not nice.

What does Scarlett think of having a song named after her?

She loves it. I think she feels quite empowered by it. At first she was worried that it was going to offend the guy [she'd broken up with] but I don't really care about that. I'll take the blame. So yeah, she loves it. But now I've got to write songs for all my other friends.

Who has the most difficult name to rhyme?

Lauren's quite hard.

You could rhyme it with Florin, the currency from the Middle Ages...

Maybe that's the story! That's going to be a challenge and a half.

The other big honour you've received this week is being invited on tour with Olivia Rodrigo.

No big deal! No big deal! I'm freaked out about that as well. I feel like everything's come together at once and I'm gonna have a very intense year next year. But Olivia's music... I mean, I think we can all agree how amazing of a writer she is. So I'm really looking forward to seeing her set every night and definitely crying every night. I'm just so looking forward to it.

Have you met her yet?

Actually, I met her at an Alanis Morissette gig in LA when I was there. I just spotted her and went over and said "hi!" She's just lovely. So lovely.

Amazing. Well, best of luck for next year and congratulations again!

Thank you so much. Have a lovely Christmas and a lovely holiday.

You too. Don't forget to stock up on those mince pies.

Oh, don't you worry. I don't need to be told twice.

Meet the runners-up

Bree Runway

The singer and rapper performed to former US First Lady Michelle Obama as a schoolgirl aged 14, who told her to "keep going".

She followed this advice, studying music at university and eventually going viral with her mirror covers - filming herself singing to the mirror - that gained millions of views on social media.

The success of her 2000AND4EVA mixtape sparked the hit Hot Hot, which alongside her BBC Sound Of listing saw her pick up the BET award for best new international act.

Hot Hot also secured her a Mobo nomination for best video and a nod for best female.

Runway, now 29, said she feels honoured by this rising star Brit nomination.

"It's all so exciting, especially as previous nominees have gone on to do such amazing things, I hope I'm struck by that same luck," she said.

"Attending the Brits alone has been something I've wanted to do for years, but attending as a rising star nominee is a dream."

Lola Young

An open-mic veteran by the tender age of 13 when she won her first national competition, Young has described her Brit nomination as a "big step".

Growing up in south London, the powerhouse vocalist released a number of EPs to critical acclaim, before working with award-winning producer Paul Epworth in 2021, including on her latest smoky-guitar single FAKE.

Young also recently found mainstream success by soundtracking this year's John Lewis Christmas advert with a new version of 1984 classic Together In Electric Dreams by Philip Oakley and Giorgio Moroder.

"I can't believe I've been nominated for this award. It feels surreal and completely unexpected. I feel very excited to have been nominated," said the singer.