Holly Humberstone’s past and present collide on Can You Afford To Lose Me?, an 11-track “extended collection” out today (October 24) via Darkroom/Geffen/Polydor. Ten of its songs are cherry-picked from the tracklists of her previously released EPs, last year’s The Walls Are Way Too Thin and 2020’s Falling Asleep At The Wheel, but the opener is a brand-new title track. The ballad is the pinnacle of her vulnerable songwriting that cuts like a knife.
The burgeoning UK star delivers a perfect blend of hushed and soaring vocals over an evocative piano and synth soundscape. It’s a statement in self-worth and demanding accountability in a relationship. “Go ahead and do your worst, but don’t you go and cry when it hurts,” she sings in the chorus. “Can you afford to lose me? / Go ahead and pack your bags / But once you’re gone, you can’t come back.”
Humberstone dropped the Can You Afford To Lose Me? trailer last week and explained the purpose behind the project in the YouTube description.
“The past couple of years have been a whirlwind and I rarely get the chance to reflect on everything that’s happened,” it reads. “Over the past few months I’ve been looking back at the music I’ve made, the people I’ve met, the incredible experiences we’ve shared together and where I’m heading on a personal level. Playing my songs on tour, seeing them out in the world, and how they’ve affected people differently has made me want to give them another life so much so that I’ve put them together in the order I would listen to them in now: a fresh evolution of my first two EPs.”
It continues, “I’ve also added a brand new song called ‘Can You Afford To Lose Me?’ which is probably one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I feel like I’ve changed quite a lot since releasing some of my tracks, so I decided not to include a couple of them. While I’ll always love those songs, I wanted to highlight the ones that resonate the most with where I’m at in my life at this moment. I hope you guys can listen to these songs in new ways, just like I have.”
The included songs are “Overkill,” “Scarlett,” “Please Don’t Leave Just Yet,” “Deep End,” “Haunted House,” “Thursday,” “Vanilla,” “The Walls Are Way Too Thin,” “Falling Asleep At The Wheel” and “Friendly Fire.”
Watch the trailer below and stream Can You Afford To Lose Me? here.