Songfacts®:

• "Holly" represents Hollywood, the almost mythical area of Los Angeles known as the entertainment hub of America. It represents glamour, but in real life can be very different, with some areas that are really run down. That's what Republica, a British band, discovered when they visited.
  
  "Everybody wants to get there, and when you do, they find that all that glitters isn't gold," lead singer Saffron told Songfacts. "It's actually nothing like what everyone says. It's the opposite of that shiny light. The stars are what people walk on, stomp on, where dogs poop - they're on the pavement. It's like The Wizard Of Oz. It's actually quite tragic."
• The song is part of Republica's self-titled debut album, best known for the high-energy hit "Ready To Go." "Holly" wasn't released as a single but became one of their more popular songs, often included at their live shows.
  
  The band toured America in 1996 and made inroads there, but had more success in the UK, where their song "Drop Dead Gorgeous" rose to #7. They had some bad luck in 1998 when their record label faltered and their second album, Speed Ballads, wasn't released in America. By this time, two of the original five members had left.
  
  Republica took a hiatus for most of the '00s, re-forming later in the decade with Saffron and two other original members, Tim Dorney and Johnny Glue. They released an EP in 2013 called Christiana Obey.