Lola Young has teetered on the brink for years. Since at least 2021, the south Londoner has been bubbling over as she jockeyed for the Rising Star Award at the BRITS and landed on the BBC’s prestigious ‘Sound Of’ poll. While chart alums like Pink Pantheress and Central Cee have already made their mark, Young’s commercial breakthrough proved more elusive. That is, until “Messy,” a track from last year’s sophomore album “This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway,” went viral on TikTok.
“You know what? I just can’t stand to hear it on the app,” Young, 24, says over FaceTime from Australia, where she’s wrapping up a promo visit. “Obviously I love that it’s on the app, I just don’t want to hear my own song when I open it.” Instead of being precious about her vulnerable tracks soundtracking a finger-gun dance trend, she’s refreshingly pragmatic: “If it resonates, it resonates. It doesn’t really matter in what capacity.”
The song and its accompanying dance trend, which Young has no intention of taking part in (“It’s not really for me”), has spawned more than 250,000 creations on the app. The song’s celebration of imperfection has since been adopted by everyone from Kylie Jenner to mothers’ groups struggling with the pressures of parenthood. Soon “Messy” began climbing the charts and is now just outside the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It’s an unlikely trajectory for a song the 24-year-old first wrote as a demo in her bedroom in the midst of a chaotic breakup. “My relationship ended, and it was closure for me,” she says. “Then I started thinking about my relationship with myself.” Young realized that many of the lyrics were criticisms directed at herself. “I have a big ass mouth and I’m a loud woman,” she says. “I have to own it.”
Young took the demo to collaborators Solomonophonic and Connor Dickinson, and they began hashing out production at LA’s 64Sound. “It has old gear, old synths, old gear,” she says. “You can record crap on tape, it feels like a studio in the 70s.” Playing the song live, they decided on a take that captured its rough edges rather than going for pristine studio polish. Her breakthrough hit was in the bag, but she remained blissfully unaware of its trajectory.
“I don’t think anyone realized that,” Young says. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, this is the hit.'” Instead, she focused on other songs from the album. “My label claims they knew, but I don’t think anyone can ever know what’s going to work – and there’s nobody nuance,” she says. “We had a clear vision of what the sound was and what the singles were and what should be prioritized.”
With “Messy” now roaring up the charts, Young feels a sense of relief. “It takes a lot of pressure,” she says. “It means there’s a lot more faith, there’s a lot more creative control.” While she intends to re-promote the album’s actual single “Conceited,” there’s new music on the horizon. “I have my second album in the bag,” she reveals. In terms of employees, she is sticking with her current team.
“I’m going to dig deeper and explore new terrain,” she says, while staying true to the unique fusion that makes her music stand out. “It feels a bit rocky, there’s a ’90s hip-hop influence, folk music inspired the lyrics and there’s a bit of pop too.” It’s a recipe she started tinkering with early in her career, and she has no intention of finding a lane: “Why fix something that isn’t broken?”
Before moving on to new music, Young must contend with another surprise hit thanks to a feature on Tyler, The Creator’s “Chromakopia.” Their collaboration, “Like Him”, has taken off organically and broken into the upper echelons of the charts. “It’s my favorite of his albums,” she beams. “I’m biased, but it’s such a deep song.” When asked if Tyler might be in her next project, Young is hopeful. “I asked, but I don’t want to force anything,” she says.
Young’s focus at the moment, however, is promoting “Messy” and processing its success. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she says between vape hits. “I’m ready.” So much so that Young is upset by her innermost thoughts blasting from the radio. “I’ve always been honest, so why should I change?” In fact, her only fear of looming fame is her “big ass mouth.” “The thing that scares me the most is interrupting the culture,” she says. “I’m not the most PC person on the planet.”
