"To Love Somebody" by Holly Humberstone // Song Review

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"To Love Somebody" is a song rooted in heartbreak, but it approaches the feeling from a completely different angle than a typical breakup track. Instead of framing sensitivity and feeling all-encompassing deep emotions as weaknesses, Holly Humberstone instead writes from the place of these being the distinct traits that make us human. The bittersweet message is that the moments in life that leave you feeling the most exposed and emotionally vulnerable ultimately allow us to gain clarity and experience life in the fullest sense of the word.

"They tell you that you feel too much, euphoria right down to the crush, it all breaks down, it always does, it all works out, it always does," Holly sings in the first pre-chorus. "And the shit they say in the songs you love, the greatest hits and the deepest cuts, it all breaks down, it always does, it all works out, it always does".

At the heart of it, this song carries the age old message that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. "To love somebody, to hurt somebody, to lose somebody, is to know you're only human, honey" she sings in the chorus. Ultimately, "To Love Somebody" is a celebration of the fact that you were able to love someone or something so deeply that their absence leaves a mark on your life, rather than a lament. She closes the chorus with the poignant reminder that, "Well, at least you got to love somebody". 

Holly wrote this song after seeing a friend go through a breakup and the affirming advice she gave her at the time. In an interview with Exclaim! she opened up about the mindset she was in while writing this song; "Loving hard is a painful thing and there are two sides to love and they exist in the same space to me. They are all real, brutal and vulnerable experiences," she said. "This blue and green ball just keeps spinning, and you learn to ride things out."

"They tell you that you feel too much, euphoria right down to the crush" is another lyric that is so beautiful and  also largely feels reminiscent of a lyric from Taylor Swift's "gold rush" - "I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush".

It is such a beautiful and moving sentiment to honor every stage of the human experience in this way, no matter how painful it may feel at the time. All of this is delivered through a perfect pop melody that makes the messaging all that more impactful. Instead of dwelling on the pain, it is an acknowledgement of the beauty in having felt anything at all. 

"To Love Somebody" distills the ethos of Holly's 2026 sophomore album Cruel World into one song. It served as the lead single for the project and embodies to overall notion that love, loss and the ache of being alive are all deeply intertwined and none of it is meaningless if coming from a place of genuine emotion. "In 'To Love Somebody' I wanted to capture that contradiction: to love somebody, is to hurt somebody and to lose somebody, well at least you got to love somebody," Holly said in an interview with Clash Magazine. "In order to feel extreme happiness, you have to know extreme sadness. That's the tension of the record."


Check out more from my song of the week series here. ☆ Thanks for reading!


Photo Credit: Holly Humberstone, Universal Music Group


Related Posts: 

Cruel World by Holly Humberstone // Album Review







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