Holly Humberstone at Chalk

We’ve got a heads-up on a really interesting gig coming to Brighton next month. Holly Humberstone, the artist who won the BRIT Rising Star award in 2022 and is known for her detailed 'forensic songwriting,' is scheduled to play an intimate show at Chalk on Wednesday, March 25, 2026.

This isn't just a standard tour stop; it’s part of a series of 'intimate record store dates' she’s doing in collaboration with Resident Music. The whole point of these shows is to celebrate the upcoming release of her second album, Cruel World, which is officially set to drop a couple of weeks later on April 10. Given that her previous album, Paint My Bedroom Black, reached the top three in the UK charts and she’s already sold out major venues like Brixton Academy, catching her in a smaller setting like Chalk should be a unique experience for fans of Pop music.

If you’re planning on heading down to the venue at 13 Pool Valley, BN1 1NJ, the doors are scheduled to open at 19:00. Since this is a paid event, you’ll need to secure your spot beforehand. Tickets and album bundles are currently available, with prices ranging between £17.96 and £47.73. You can find those through the link hollyhumberstone.lnk.to/CruelWorldOutstores.

The material she’ll be presenting on the night seems to explore some complex emotional ground. Humberstone has commented that the new record delves into the contradiction of love, describing it as both beautiful and inherently painful. She summed up the tension of the album by saying: 'In order to feel extreme happiness, you have to know extreme sadness. That’s the tension of the record.'