Earlier this month English singer/songwriter and Polydor recording artist Holly Humberstone sold out her fifth consecutive show in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection when she returned to Theatre of Living Arts on June 9th. (Her first area appearance was supporting girl in red at Union Transfer in March of 2022, followed by two nights opening The Met for Olivia Rodrigo that May, but her first-ever headlining appearance in the 215 also produced a sold-out show at the legendary South Street venue.) The date came as part of the eponymously named Cruel World North American Tour, in support of her sophomore LP, which kicked off with performances at both weekends of Coachella this April and wraps next week, before she heads back overseas for summer festivals and the Cruel World European Tour this fall.
In addition to fan-favorite sing-alongs and alt-pop anthems like “The Walls Are Way Too Thin,” “Kissing in Swimming Pools,” and “Scarlett,” the 19-song set featured 11 of Cruel World’s 12 tracks, including singles “To Love Somebody,” “Cruel World,” “Die Happy,” and “Beauty Pageant,” sassy gothic pop songs of love and heartbreak inspired by fairytales, Victorian theatre, and classic horror of the 19th and 20th centuries that seem well on their way to becoming classics (Intimate takes on the former two tracks can be found on the it’s a real Cruel World EP, which dropped earlier this month and features new, stripped-down takes on four of the LP’s tracks.) and earned nearly the response of the artist’s established favorites. Fittingly, Holly spent the 80-minute set traipsing about a stage decorated as a hillside cemetery in a black and white bodice, petticoat skirt, and knee-high boots, looking like a gloomy princess who could have easily stolen the show from the stage of American Idol or Warped Tour in the mid-late aughts.
“I feel like the nice thing about opening for an artist with such diehard fans is they do some research, and by the time they get there, they know the lyrics!” says singer/songwriter Diva Smith, who opened the show with an eight-song solo/acoustic set. I’m chatting with the New York-based artist via phone, who is currently in a DC hotel, preparing to play the next night of the tour with Holly at the legendary 9:30 Club. Smith tells me that she and Humberstone actually cemented their friendship after the show at The TLA (“We’ve known of each other for a little while now, but last night was my first time on the tour bus, and we just hung out and chatted until three in the morning.”), but says she’s already learned a lot from the down-to-Earth pop star: “Seeing how Holly navigates this is so inspiring. She talks to all the fans every night and she’s such a kind person.”
That Friday, June 12th, Diva Smith released Sunny Surrender, her first-ever EP and follow-up to three stand-alone singles that she put out last year. However, Smith tells me that the tracks of Sunny Surrender already represent a sort of new side of her: “Those songs from last year had even been written for a while before they came out… The main change in my life is performing, so I wanted the songs to be poppier and more uplifting and dynamic, so they’d be really fun to perform live.” She admits, “I also became obsessed with country music in the past two years,” which she also told the audience of The TLA amidst a set featuring four of the EP’s five tracks.
Accompanying the release of Sunny Surrender was an official music video for “Still The Kid,” an EP track that Smith tells me had proven to be the favorite of Holly Humberstone’s fans even before they knew the words. “‘Still The Kid’ has gotten the biggest response. The biggest cheer I get is when I say that I’m a preschool teacher,” she laughs, explaining that she does still have a day job during most of the year: “I’m on summer break now, but I’m a preschool teacher and I have a lot of people who can relate to that and will talk to me at shows and be like, ‘I’m a preschool teacher, too!’ and tell me about their experiences. It’s nice to bond over something so specific.” And while the job is technically new for Diva, it’s not a far cry from things she’s been doing for some time: “I’ve always worked with kids and been a babysitter in New York for my whole life, but I hit a point about a year ago, when those singles came out, where I got a job offer.”
Diva tells me that working with her students actually provides an opportunity to balance her life as a singer/songwriter: “When I was working on those songs, I was thinking about myself, talking about myself, writing about myself, and I needed to detach and start not thinking about myself, just put my phone away and be present.” She goes on to say that the freedom she sees in the children has come to serve as an inspiration, which can actually be seen in the “Still The Kid” music video, whose narrative enabled her to reflect on her own youth: “I have this stuffed bunny that I take everywhere with me, so the video is me in a bunny costume, being around New York City, showing that I’m still a big kid.”
The music video for “Still The Kid” was directed by filmmaker/photographer/musician Nina Ljeti, who Smith tells me she’s only recently befriended, but who she loves working with: “We met through mutual friends. Our collaboration feels so authentic to me, because she really understands me as a human being.” She also says that things like music videos are definitely meaningful to her: “This project, the music and the visuals and the creative aspects, is really important to me.” In addition to her music videos, Diva is also a big fan of fashion, regularly getting invited to major shows and establishing a long-standing relationship with Chanel. She admits that her mom is her primary sartorial inspiration (“I’m so mad at her for not keeping every single piece of clothing she’s ever worn, because I see all these pictures of her wearing these amazing things!”), and she says that she sees fashion as an important aspect of her identity: “The world of fashion, to me, is a really nice way of showing my personality… It’s a way to build my world.”
When I ask Diva about some of the highlights of her burgeoning music career, she tells me it really is the IRL connections: “I think the part that’s important is this human interaction. Playing live and meeting people is what makes it worth it in the end. It feels really weird putting music into the void. I’m excited to meet people!” And she says she’s anxious to do more of that in the near future: “I’m hoping to play more and more. Right before the Holly tour, I did a tour with Carol Ades [who opened for Holly Humberstone the last time she played The TLA], but I’d never toured before that, I just played around New York City… I’m hoping to grow a community around my music.” However, she’s also potentially excited to be creating some new music as well: “I’m looking forward to writing, because I have been in finishing mode for a while now.”
