Paint My Bedroom Black is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone. It was released on 13 October 2023 by Polydor.
Critical reception
Paint My Bedroom Black received a score of 75 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on twelve critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. DIYs Ben Tipple commented that the album is "at once escapist and heavily personal" and "a dark, pop-perfect, melancholic fantasy". Maya Georgi of Rolling Stone called it "an amalgamation of flashing colors, moving from cerulean blue to super blood moon orange at hyper-speed" and opined that it "doubles down on her voracious honesty, laying bare her deepest regrets, doom scroll nights, and drinking habits". Reviewing the album for The Line of Best Fit, Emma Thimgren found it to be "full of slick melodies and the songs are so very neatly crafted, yet the reach towards a bigger sound loses the immediacy between Humberstone and the listener". Emma Cooper-Raeburn of The Skinny felt that the "influences of Damien Rice and Phoebe Bridgers are evident throughout" the album, which "demonstrates Humberstone's progress in her talent and career [...] although all of the tracks on the record blend seamlessly together, many sadly sound similar to the last".
Track listing
Personnel
Holly Humberstone – vocals, background vocals (all tracks); piano (tracks 1, 5, 7), tambourine (4), vibraphone (8) Matt Colton – mastering Lee Smith – mixing (all tracks), drums (4–7) Rob Milton – synthesizer (all tracks), guitar (1–12), programming (1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10–12), percussion (1, 4, 7, 12), bass (3, 5, 6), background vocals (3, 11, 13), keyboards (6), acoustic guitar (13) Ethan Gruska – synthesizer (2, 8); guitar, programming (2); bass, drums, percussion (8) Rob Slater – drums (3, 7) Max Clilverd – pedal steel (4, 5) Angelica Bomford – cello (4) Julian Bayliss – conductor, piano (4) Joseph Lowe – viola (4) Anastasia Vaina – violin (4) Chloë Meade – violin (4) Benjamin Leftwich – guitar (5) Jamie Lockhart – strings (5) D4vd – vocals, background vocals (6) Giampaolo Parisi – programming, synthesizer, vocal programming (9) Marco Parisi – programming, synthesizer, vocal programming (9) Noah Conrad – piano, synthesizer (10–12); guitar (11) Jonah Summerfield – programming, synthesizer (10–12)