Holly Humberstone: People can't connect to a pop star who's 'too polished'

You might know her as a pop star, endorsed by everyone from Taylor Swift to Sam Fender, but Holly Humberstone has a secret double life. "We've stolen one of our neighbours' cats by accident," she laughs, in a Zoom call from her fixer-upper in New Cross, south-east London. Humberstone's excuse for this feline felony is that, last year, her parents sold her childhood home in Lincolnshire , external and moved to Wales – taking her pets with them.

One, a cat called Tsuki, had even been immortalised in the song Lucy as a confidante who listens to her problems but "never judges". "We actually tried to bring her to London with us, but she's a countryside cat and she hated it so much. We had to send her to Wales where she can be free and frolic." Their house, a "freezing cold, falling down" property 20 minutes outside of Grantham, played a huge part in the singer's success.

Her early EPs were all written there, inspiring the "wonky sonics" of her indie-leaning pop sound. The 2021 single Haunted House is even dedicated to the "friendly" spirits who inhabited the property.