YOUNG
Lola

• 1. Career
• 1.1. 2013–2018: Career beginnings
• 1.2. 2019–2023: Breakthrough and debut album
• 1.3. 2024–2025: This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway
• 1.4. 2025–present: I'm Only F**king Myself

Lola Emily Mary Young is an English singer. She is best known for her 2024 sleeper hit "Messy", which topped the UK Singles Chart. She has released three albums thus far, including This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway (2024) and I'm Only F**king Myself (2025).

Young has received several award nominations. She was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star in 2021, for Best Pop Act in 2025, and placed fourth in the BBC Sound of 2022 poll. She won the Ivor Novello Award for rising star in 2025.

Career

2013–2018: Career beginnings

Lola Young attended the BRIT School, where she honed her skills and won the Open Mic UK singing competition at just 15 with her song Never Enough. In 2016, she appeared on CBBC’s Got What It Takes?, finishing as a runner-up. After graduating from the BRIT School in 2018, she continued performing at local gigs and open mic events, eventually catching the attention of industry figures Nick Shymansky, Amy Winehouse’s former manager, and Nick Huggett, who first signed Adele. The two soon became her managers.

2019–2023: Breakthrough and debut album

In 2019, Young signed with Island Records and released her debut single 6 Feet Under, followed by the EP Intro. Her next EP, Renaissance, arrived in April 2020. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she maintained her presence through virtual performances and continued to release music, including the single Woman. In 2021, she gained wider recognition with a performance on The Late Late Show with James Corden and her rendition of Together in Electric Dreams for the John Lewis Christmas advert. That same year, she was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star. Her debut album, My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely, was released in 2023 following the single Stream of Consciousness and a successful European tour.

2024–2025: This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway

Young’s second album, This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway, was released in June 2024 and featured singles including Wish You Were Dead, Conceited, Big Brown Eyes and the platinum-certified number one hit Messy. The single went viral on TikTok, significantly boosting her international profile.

Messy topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks, making Young one of only two British female artists to reach number one in the last year, alongside Charli XCX. She also became the youngest British artist to score a UK chart-topping single since Dave’s Starlight in 2022, and the youngest British female solo artist to do so since Dua Lipa’s 2017 hit New Rules. By April 2025, Messy was the biggest streaming single from a British artist worldwide. It also reached number one in Australia, Ireland and Belgium, topped the US and Canadian alternative radio airplay charts, and secured Top 10 positions across New Zealand, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, France, Germany, Canada, Austria, Poland, Sweden and Denmark.

In addition, Young was featured on Like Him from Tyler, the Creator’s eighth studio album Chromakopia, released in October 2024.

2025–present: I'm Only F**king Myself

On January 21, 2025, Young performed Messy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon before making her debut appearance at Coachella that April.

She announced her third studio album, I’m Only F**king Myself, in June 2025, with its release on September 19, 2025. The lead single One Thing dropped in May, followed by Not Like That Anymore in June and Dealer in July. In September 2025, Young performed at the All Things Go Music Festival in New York, where she collapsed on stage mid-set but later reassured fans of her recovery.