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Caalaroga, Shark Media, I'm Garrett Fisher. And on February first,
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twenty twenty six, at the Grammy Award, Lola Young stepped
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onto the stage to accept the award for Best Pop
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Solo Performance. She hadn't prepared a speech. She never expected
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to win. Oh my, an f bomb slipped past the
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CBS censors. Sorry, sorry, sorry, it's MESSI. You know what
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I mean. The audience laughed. Lola froze for a second,
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profusely apologizing, before managing to thank her team and get
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off stage. It was the most lowly young moment possible, unpolished, real,
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a little chaotic, exactly what MESSI is all about. The
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win itself was significant. Messi beat Justin Bieber's Daisies, Sabrina
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Carpenter's Man Child, Lady Gaga's Disease, and chappelle Ron's The Subway,
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huge names, massive songs. But what makes Lola's Grammy win
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truly remarkable isn't just that she won. It's that she
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won four months after collapsing on stage mid performance and
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canceling everything for the foreseeable future to work on herself.
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This is a story about mental health, resilience and a
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song that became a cultural phenomenon precisely because it refused
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to pretend everything was fine. Let's start at the beginning.
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Lola Emily Mary Young was born January fourth, two thousand
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and one, in South London. Her mother is English, her
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stepfather Jamaican Chinese and a professional bass player. Music was
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in the household. Her mother encouraged piano lessons early. Lola
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taught herself guitar. Later, at age eleven, she started writing songs.
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By thirteen, she was playing pub gigs. At fifteen, she
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was accepted to the brit School in Croydon, the legendary
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performing arts academy that produced Adele, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis,
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and Kate Nash. At Bright School, Lola attracted attention from
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two people who would change her career, Nick Shamansky and
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Nick Huget. Shamansky was Amy Weinehouse's former manager. He'd retired
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from the music industry, but when he saw Lola perform
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at a local gig, he came out of retirement. Huggett,
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who signed Adell, followed suit. That's the kind of talent
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Lola had, the kind that makes industry veterans think I
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can't let this one Pass. At sixteen, Lola won the
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under sixteen category of Open Mic UK, beating over nine
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thousand competitors with an original song called Never Enough. She
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also reached the finals of the BBC competition Got What
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It Takes, footage that would resurface on TikTok years later
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when she became famous. She signed with Island Records at eighteen,
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right after graduating brit School in twenty eighteen. But here's
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the thing, Lola's journey to MESSI wasn't a straight line.
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It was messy. Her debut single, Reason to Stay, came
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out in October twenty nineteen, then came epas intro renaissance
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after Midnight good Music, not breakthrough music. In November twenty
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twenty one, Lola got a major opportunity. She recorded a
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cover of Together in Electric Dreams for the John Lewis
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Christmas Advert, one of the most prestigious commercial placements in
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the UK. She performed it on The Late Late Show
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with James Corden. She was nominated for the brit Rising
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Star Award. This should have been her moment, but it wasn't.
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Not yet, her debut album, My Mind Wanders and Sometimes
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Leaves completely came out in May twenty twenty three. The
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title was a reference to her Schitzo effective disorder, a
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mental health condition she'd been diagnosed with at seventeen. Schitzo
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effective disorder includes symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood disorder
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like depression or bipolar. Lola has been incredibly open about it.
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In twenty twenty two, she wrote on Instagram, I have
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crazy fucking highs, mania and immense lows and even both
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at the same time. It's like breaking a leg. It's
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physical and it hurts. Society just isn't at a place
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to understand that yet. She also told The Telegraph it
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runs in my family. My paternal uncle had schizophrenia and
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my mother's brother had depression, and they both died. That
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kind of openness is rare, especially for someone trying to
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build a pop career, but for Lola, honesty isn't optional.
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It's survival. The album failed to chart, though one track,
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Don't Hate Me, went viral on TikTok. Lola kept working.
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Between September twenty twenty three and May twenty twenty four.
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She released singles Conceited, Wish You Were Dead, Fuck, and Messi.
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Messi came out May thirtieth, twenty twenty four, as the
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sixth single from her second album, This Wasn't Meant for
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You Anyway, released June twenty first, twenty twenty four. And
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this is where things get interesting. Lola has said she
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wrote MESSI the night before a video was taken on
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November twentieth, twenty twenty three. She played it for her
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friends that night, didn't even know anyone was filming. The
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song was written after she was diagnosed with severe ADHD.
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She's called it an ADHD anthem, that feeling of being
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too much and not enough at the same time, too
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messy for some people, too clean for others, never quite
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right for anyone. The lyrics perfectly capture that experience. Okay,
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so yeah, I smoke like a chimney slash, I'm not
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skinny and I pull a Brittany every other week slash,
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but cut me some slack. Who do you want me
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to be than the hook a thousand people? I could
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be for you and you hate the fucking lot. It's
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a middle finger to the self help industrial complex, to
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the idea that you need to optimize yourself into someone acceptable,
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to the pressure to be enough for the world. Lola
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told nmy I feel like MESSI is a song that
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symbolizes how we all feel. I feel it speaks on
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just like being a messy human being and not being
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enough for you know, the world, and that's how a
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lot of us feel a lot the time, and how
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I felt a lot of the time. That's why I
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think it related. The song was produced by Jared Solomonophonic,
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Solomon Monsoon, Carter Lang, and will Manuka Brown. Interestingly, three
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of those four had worked on as is A's Saturn.
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There's a sonic connection to that era of confessional slightly
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left of center pop. Lola has said she specifically sought
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out Solomonophonic after hearing his work with Remy Wolf. They
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had jam sessions in Los Angeles, and she appreciated that
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he didn't interrogate her lyrics or ask probing questions. He
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just let the music happen. I've had people in the
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studio before asking what do you mean by that? How
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are you feeling? You don't know me well enough to
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ask that, she told enemy. With Solemnonophonic, they created something unconventional,
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synth heavy, a bit odd, emotionally raw. When Messi was
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released in May twenty twenty four. It didn't immediately explode.
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It was a slow build. The album came out in June,
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Lola toured. She supported Billie Eilish on two Paris dates
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in June after Billy personally invited her. Then in November
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twenty twenty four, TikTok happened. On November twenty eighth, influencer
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Jake Shane and model Sofia Ritchie posted a clip of
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themselves dancing to MESSI, except it wasn't really dancing. It
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was finger guns, a half shimmy vibing, nothing elaborate. It
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went viral immediately. Kylie Jenner posted herself lip syncing to
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the song. Over two hundred and fifty thousand videos used
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the sound. The song achieved three point nine million official
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on demand streams in the United States in one week.
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Suddenly Messy was everywhere. Lola told British Vogue, I would
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say the tiktoks are the least exciting part about it,
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if I'm honest. I think what's really exciting is that
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the song's in the top forty UK charts and global charts.
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That feels like a milestone. I've had Kylie Jenner use
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my sound before I've had a viral moment on TikTok before,
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although obviously this does feel slightly different. The song entered
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the UK Singles Chart on November twenty first, twenty twenty four.
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It climbed number fifty five, number forty one, number thirty five,
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number eleven, then it hit number one and stayed there
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for four weeks. Outside the UK, Messy top charts in Australia, Belgium, Croatia,
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Ireland and Israel. It peaked in the top ten in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg,
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the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. In the US,
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it reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot one hundred,
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Lola's first top forty hit as a solo artist. It
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also topped the Pop Airplay chart. By early twenty twenty five,
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Messi was the second most stream song in the UK.
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Lola appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in
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January twenty twenty five, making her USTv debut with a
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performance of Messi. She performed it at the brit Awards
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in March and went viral again when her reaction to
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losing the brit Award for British Popact to Jade was
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caught on camera. People loved her for being visibly disappointed
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but gracious. She was also featured on Tyler the Creator's
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track Like Him from his album Chromacopeia, released October twenty eighth,
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twenty twenty four. That collaboration brought her even more attention.
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Her third album, I'm Only Fucking Myself was released in
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twenty twenty five, with singles in including One Thing, which
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debuted at number twenty five UK. Not Like That Anymore,
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Daylor and Spiders. Everything was happening fast, maybe too fast,
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because what the public didn't fully see was what Lola
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was dealing with behind the scenes. Throughout twenty twenty five,
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her performances became increasingly difficult. At Coachella in April, she
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ran off stage wretching mid performance. At Capitol Summertime Ball
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in June, her innear monitors failed and she broke down
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crying on stage. In July, she canceled an appearance on
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the Tonight Show. In September, she was welfared out of
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a performance at a Prudential Center charity concert. Her team
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had hired a sober coach because Lola wasn't just dealing
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with mental health challenges, she was also battling cocaine addiction.
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In November twenty twenty four, she'd spent five weeks in
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drug rehabilitation. She's been open about this too. In an
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interview with The Guardian published in September twenty twenty five,
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she said, I've had to be away for a bit
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while battling with things, but it teaches you a lot
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being addicted to substances. It makes you more empathetic about
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other people that have gone through that. It's just a
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constant journey. Then came September twenty seventh, twenty twenty five,
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the All Things Go Music Festival in New York. Lola
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was performing at Forest Hills Stadium. She told the crowd
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she'd had a tricky couple of days. She got through
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Wish You Were Dead, she got through spiders. During conceded,
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she gestured to someone backstage and pointed to her head.
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Then she took a few steps backward and collapsed. Crewmembers
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surrounded her immediately and carried her off stage. Remy Wolf,
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who performed after Lola, told the crowd, I really quickly
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just wanted to say that my friend Lola is backstage
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and she's okay. She's getting good back here, so we're
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all good okay. Hours later, Lola posted on Instagram, hie
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for anyone who saw my set at All Things Go today.
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I am doing okay now. Thank you for all of
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your support, Lola xxx. Two days later, she canceled her
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scheduled performance at the festival's Washington, d C. Stop. Then,
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on September thirtieth, the announcement I'm going away for a while.
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It pains me to say I have to cancel everything
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for the foreseeable future. Thank you for all the love
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and support. I'm so sorry to let anyone down who
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has bought a ticket to see me. It hurts me
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more than you know. Obviously, you will be entitled to
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a full refund. I really hope you'll give me a
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second chance once I've had some time to work on
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myself and come back stronger. Her manager, Nick Schaimansky added,
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Lola is very open about her mental health, and there
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are very occasionally days where myself and my team have
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to take protective measures to keep her safe. She is
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an incredible person and always takes her fans career and performances. Seriously,
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I can only send huge apologies for the inconvenience cause.
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Lola disappeared from the public eye. Some sources attributed her
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collapse to exhaustion. Others pointed to the cumulative effect of
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schizo effective disorder ADHD and addiction recovery. The truth was
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probably all of it. A twenty four year old woman
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whose star was rising faster than her ability to cope,
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whose mental and physical health were screaming for a pause.
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Three months passed, no performances, no appearances. Then in late
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December twenty twenty five, Lola broke her silence. She posted
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on Instagram, I just wanted to express gratitude to everyone
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who has given me time and space to gather myself
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and get my head in a better place. I felt
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so much love and support from you all, and it
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has helped more than you will ever know. I am
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hoping to gradually get back to performing and continuing pursuing
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my dreams. By then, the grad SEMy nominations had been announced.
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Messi was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance. Lola was
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also nominated for Best New Artist. In January twenty twenty six,
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she resumed performing and on February first, twenty twenty six,
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she was at the Grammys. She performed Messi as part
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of the Best New Artist nominee showcase, a stripped down
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version on piano, emotionally raw, her voice filling the arena.
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It was her return to the spotlight after the collapse,
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a statement that she was back. When her name was
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called for Best Pop Solo Performance, the room erupted. She
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hadn't won Best New Artists that went to fellow brit
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School alum Olivia Dean, but she won this. Beat Justin Bieber,
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beat Sabrina Carpenter, beat Lady Gaga, beat Chappelle Roan, and
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she led an F bomb slip because she was overwhelmed
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and honest and exactly who she'd always been. Backstage, she
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explained what MESSI meant. I feel like Messi is a
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song that symbolizes how we all feel. I feel. It
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speaks on just like being a messy human being and
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not being enough for you know, the world, and that's
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how a lot of us feel a lot at the time,
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and how I felt a lot of the time. That's
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why I think it related. That's it, That's the whole thing.
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The song connected because it told the truth in a
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world of curated Instagram feeds and perfectly filtered tiktoks and
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celebrities pretending their lives are aspirational perfection. Lola Young wrote
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a song that said I'm a mess I smoke too much,
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I'm not skinny, I have mental breakdowns. I can't be