2001–23: Early life and career beginnings Lola Emily Mary Young was born on 4 January 2001 to a
Jamaican-Chinese father and
English mother. She grew up in
Beckenham including Becky Young, who campaigned for the music industry environmental charity EarthPercent and ran the anti-fatphobia
Instagram account Anti-Diet Riot Club. Their mother worked for
Mind, while their stepfather was a bass player and their great-aunt is
The Gruffalo author
Julia Donaldson. Lola started writing songs aged 11 a place she described in an interview as "a hub for people who maybe couldn't be themselves even at home, but [...] could be themselves there". In January 2016, she won the under-16 category of the
Open Mic UK singing competition and appeared on
CBBC's
Got What It Takes?, which she reached the finals of. He had gone there looking for a replacement artist for a documentary and subsequently became Young's joint manager with Nick Huggett, who had previously signed
Adele. in October 2019. She also released the EP
Intro that year, followed by a music video for
Intro track "3rd of Jan (Getting Ready)" that day. Promotion for
Intro was interrupted due to Young developing a
cyst on her vocal cords, for which she underwent surgery. She released "Pick Me Up" on
Capitol Records in March 2020 and the single "None for You" and the EP
Renaissance in April. In July, she released the single "Woman", which was accompanied the month after by a video in which she and several other women appeared nude.
Island Records subsequently signed Young and released her single "Ruin My Make Up" in March 2021. By August, she also had released the singles "Bad Tattoo" and "Blue (2AM)". That month, she released
After Midnight, In September, she performed on
The Late Late Show with James Corden and released the single "Fake", which she performed on
Later... with Jools Holland. In November, her rendition of
Giorgio Moroder and
Philip Oakey's "
Together in Electric Dreams" soundtracked that year's
John Lewis Christmas advert. which she performed on
The Graham Norton Show. Her subsequent singles "Stream of Consciousness", "Annabel's House", "Don't Hate Me", "What Is It About Me", and "Money", were released between November 2022 and May 2023 and featured on her debut album
My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely in May 2023. The title was a reference to her schizoaffective disorder and many of the tracks pertained to it. The album failed to chart,
2023–present: "Messy" and chart successes Between September 2023 and May 2024, Young released the singles "Conceited", "Wish You Were Dead", "Fuck", and "
Messy". That June, all four appeared on ''
This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway, an album largely written about substandard ex-boyfriends. She then released the August single "Flicker of Light", which subsequently featured on the soundtrack to EA Sports FC 25, and the October single "Charlie", which featured Lil Yachty. Around the time of the latter, she featured on Tyler, the Creator "Like Him" from his album Chromakopia''. From November 2024, Young spent five weeks undergoing
drug rehabilitation to address a
cocaine addiction. and live, stripped, instrumental, and sped-up variations of the song were released. The song topped the
UK singles chart for four weeks, topped the charts in Belgium, Croatia, Israel, Australia, and Ireland, and charted at No. 14 on the
Billboard Hot 100. "Like Him" also entered the top 40 in the UK and US around this time. Young performed "Messy" on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January. and went viral for her reaction to losing the
Brit Award for British Pop Act to
Jade. In April, "Conceited" peaked at No. 63 on the UK singles chart following popularity on TikTok and
BBC Radio 1 and the release of a
7 inch single. Young was subsequently listed on
Forbes 30 Under 30 and won the
Ivor Novello Award for Rising Star She released the single "One Thing" in May alongside a music video, which was later nominated for Best Pop Video at the
2025 UK Music Video Awards. all three and "One Thing" featured on ''
I'm Only F**king Myself'', "One Thing", "D£aler", focus track "Post Sex Clarity", and "Spiders" entered the UK singles chart, the first three at 18, 27, and 60, respectively, and the album debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. and a tour visiting the UK and North America in late 2025 and South America and Europe in 2026. Throughout 2025, Young concerts occasionally suffered complications; an April performance at
Coachella was interrupted after she ran offstage
retching and a June performance at the
Summertime Ball reduced her to tears after her
in-ear monitors failed mid-performance. Her team hired a
sober coach after she relapsed and cancelled an appearance on
The Tonight Show in July and pausing public activity to work on herself; she resumed performing in January. Some sources published from late October 2025 attribute her collapse to exhaustion; however, in a March 2026
Rolling Stone interview, she stated that she had spent two months in a residential facility and had attended
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Young and "Messy" were nominated for
2026's
Grammy Awards for
Best New Artist and
Best Pop Solo Performance; the latter won, making Young one of four Brit School alumni to win an award at the ceremony. She also won that year's
Brit Award for British Breakthrough Artist. In March 2026, she contributed a video message for the benefit concert
Trans Mission. == Artistry and personal life ==