SPOTLIGHT: HOLLY NICHOLSON

Photo by Gracie Hall

Meet Holly Nicholson and tune into her new single “i forget we’re friends”

“i forget we’re friends” has been a fan favorite long before its official release. What has it been like carrying this song with you through live shows and finally letting it exist on its own?

This song has been a favourite of mine to play live for so long, seeing the fans connect withsomething that’s so personal to me has been incredible. From the first time I played the song on TikTok live, people haven’t stopped asking for it. There has been a palpable sense of anticipation surrounding this song, and I am really excited for it to become its own entity, and see the fans’ reactions to how we’ve spun it for the release. It’s been a long time coming.

You’ve described writing the song in a single, uninterrupted thirty-minute rush. Can you take us back to that moment and what headspace you were in when it poured out?

I was utterly lost within my feelings, and fighting a losing battle in my mind. I knew I wanted to express my feelings, but in doing so, it would risk everything. I didn’t know what to do, and songwriting has always been such a cathartic release for me. In that moment, I disconnected from reality and wrote with undisturbed feeling, hoping I could bring some clarity to the situation. But if anything, it just made it worse, which I think sums up falling for your best friend perfectly.

The track captures the ache of wanting someone you can’t have without ever crossing the line. Why do you think the friends-to-lovers tension feels so universally painful?

Because you can’t win. No matter what decision you make, it's not like the movies. Everyone grows up seeing characters fall in love, everyone has in some way hoped to have a similar fairytale romance. Everyone has felt the pain of knowing it can’t work, or the pain left behind when the friendship is ruined. It's so rare for the scenario to play out like it does for Harry and Sally in ‘When Harry Met Sally’, or for Monica and Chandler in ‘Friends’.

Sonically, the song builds from dreamy atmospherics into a fiery, guitar-driven release. How did you approach translating that emotional escalation into the production?

I wanted the entire song to build up a tension that was almost tangible, building to a breaking point but never providing a release. There’s no way to satisfy the conflict in your mind, and the song had to reflect that. As the song progresses, more layers come in, adding further artillery to the battle, but it all starts with a single, ambient guitar, in the same way these feelings started with a single thought. The shift in production you hear in the second verse reflects the trajectory of unrequited love. The first verse is a far-fetched daydream, drawing from the romantic movies I grew up watching. It feels manageable, like maybe something can happen, and if anything, it feels a little exciting, however, if you don’t deal with it once you realise it’s not good for you, it’s torture.

You’ve said this song represents “pop music with a little bit of edge.” What does that edge mean to you both musically and lyrically?

I grew up listening to ‘80s music, and my parents used to play ‘Money for Nothing’ by Dire Straits at full volume in the car, letting us feel giddy at the tension of that iconic intro. I’ve noticed I tend to find things in ‘80s music that I sometimes struggle to experience in modern production. I draw a lot from this inspiration, but blend it with a more modern feel. Leaning towards real drums and rawer vocals brings a little bit of a live feel to my songs. Musically, that edge is not only the guitar tones and my rougher rock-leaning attitude, but the human nature you get from live recorded instruments too. That is a huge part of my music and always will be.

Lyrically, I am completely attached to the honesty and vulnerability you find with modern artists like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. I love writing lyrics that make people confront their emotions, seeing the way the fans connect to my lyrics has been incredible, it feels surreal and I don’t think that feeling will ever subside. And lyrically the edge is just that, I want people to be listening to my lyrics, feeling my bite and honesty and connecting with the words I write.

Growing up on ’80s melodies while being inspired by modern pop storytellers, how do those influences collide in this track specifically?

When people think of the ‘80s, they tend to think of synths, and whilst this song is driven by the guitars, just behind them you’ll hear a lot of synths which are very ‘80s inspired. The guitars straddle both influences, there’s a little bit of classic rock in them, but also a distinct modern feel. The overall production of the track, and more specifically the lyrics and vocal layers are very rooted in modern influences

This feels like a noticeable shift toward a grittier, more raw sound compared to your earlier work. Did writing this song change how you see yourself as an artist?

Definitely. It gave me the opportunity to explore the type of artist I want to become and the sound I want to step into moving forward. I want to be loud and bold and fill a record with gritty guitars whilst approaching topics that are deeply personal with songs full of vulnerability. This song is emotionally delicate, but also so unapologetically me. It feels like it's something different from ‘heartbreak era’. My sophomore EP is already shaping up to build from what I’ve started here, I’m very excited for people to begin to hear what we’ve been working on.

There’s a sense of restraint throughout the song that encapsulates a great weight of emotion that is held in rather than released. How did you balance vulnerability without over-explaining the story?

I never got a chance to really think about this song, as a song. I didn’t craft it, or go through iterations, I just wrote it. I poured every emotion I had into the song, there was no room for anything that didn’t immediately serve the story. I do spend a lot of my time overthinking, but with this I never got that far. What you hear in the release is pretty much exactly what I heard the day I wrote it, pure uninterrupted emotion.

As this single opens a new creative chapter, what does “i forget we’re friends” signal about the direction of your upcoming sophomore EP?

Before anyone gets their hopes up, “i forget we’re friends” is not part of my next EP, but everything it sets out to do will be continued. The big, loud guitars aren’t going anywhere, and the songwriting is even more personal, raw and unfiltered. Tackling such personal topics has always terrified me, but this song has taught me to just go for it, and to let it happen if that's where my writing takes me.

Looking ahead to 2026, what do you hope listeners understand about you after hearing this track for the first time?

I hope everyone can see where I’m taking my music next, and understands that I have a lot to say going forward. Making this song has so clearly felt like the start of something new, and it's made me so excited to share what’s coming next. I have shared an acoustic version of one of the new tracks a few times now, but no one has any idea where it's going to go.

Listen to “i forget we’re friends” here.