FEATURE:
Spotlight
PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Alice Foster
Lola Young in my Spotlight feature as, on 10th December, we will find out whether she is the BRITs Rising Star (she is up against Holly Humberstone and Bree Runway). Young is also on the shortlist for BBC’s Sound of 2022. She is an amazing young talent who is only just in her twenties. I want to come to some interviews where we can find out more about her and the amazing work she has released already. I wonder if she has plans for another album (following her 2019 debut, Intro. Before getting to any interviews, here is some background and biography about one of the U.K.’s brightest young artists:
“Fiercely independent and possessing a true artistic vision, 20-year-old Lola Young has all the potential, spirit and individuality to become the UK’s next biggest talent.
Growing up in south London and with an inherent sense of direction and personal drive, Lola immersed herself in music. “It’s been a part of my life since I had my first memory,” she says. “And I’ve been singing since I could talk. Not that I was a good singer then. I really had to learn, practice, get lessons and teach myself. Hard work was involved when it came to me learning how to sing. People might say, ‘It sounds like you were born with that voice.’ It was not the case at all.”
Hard work could be her motto. Despite her age, Lola has been living and breathing music for nearly half her life. She started writing songs aged 11, and by the time she reached 13, she had already competed in (and won) a national open mic competition and appeared on a television show that gave young teens a sense of what life working in the music industry was like. “I was still young,” she recalls, “and while I had managers and labels interested then, which was cool, I didn’t really give it a legitimate thought.”
Securing herself a place at the prestigious BRIT school (Amy Winehouse, Rex Orange County, Loyle Carner), Lola says she spent her time at the school “finding myself creatively and stylistically”. Still, something wasn’t quite right. “School is a difficult thing because it's about conforming and authority,” she says of her time spent in education. “And those are two things that I've never really loved.”
Once she graduated from the BRIT school, she began gigging non-stop around London and focusing on fine tuning her abilities as a live performer. “When people talk to me about performing live,” the 18-year-old says, “I say that I’ve always worked so hard in that area. I’ve done so many shitty open mic pub gigs where I’ve rocked up and played to three old men drinking beer and talking through my performance. But I had to do that.”
At the heart of Lola’s live set was the music she had written. While most artists might distance themselves from the songs they wrote when they were young, Lola embraces the emotional and musical journey she’s been on. One specific song, “I Learned From You”, was written five years ago when she was just 13, and is a highlight of her live set. In fact, despite its age, the track still manages to leave Lola in her feelings. Recalling one particularly emotional performance that left her tearful, Lola says: “That song was written about a close family member and after I performed it at that show, someone came to me and said that it made them think about this figure in their life. And it was like, ‘Wow! That is exactly what I wrote it about.’ They had attributed it to their own life. That blew my mind.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Bailey
Lola soon found herself being managed by industry figureheads Nick Shymansky and Nick Hugget and signed a deal with Island Records, the label that she says felt most homely. It’s all been a crash course in resilience. “And when I say resilience,” she continues, “I mean you have to be able to know what you want. And you have to know what you are. Actually, no one knows who they are,” she laughs, “but you can know what you're trying to be. I always had a rough idea of what I was trying to be.”
That vision manifests itself in the music she writes. “My music is all the different parts of me and how I work,” she explains. In this way, it defies categorisation, while every beat and melody has meaning and intention. As a lyricist, Lola draws you in to her world, creating evocative scenes with all the tenderness and sensitivity of a folk artist, while maintaining the sharpness, wit and attitude of a rapper.
This is exemplified on debut single “Six Feet Under”, a haunting, subtle but hook-laden song that feels sketched out of Lola’s very being. Co-produced by Al Shux (Kendrick Lemar, Jay Z), the song was written by Lola on the piano before being worked into an atmospheric, celestial, ambient and lightly electronic missive with an unconventional beat and Lola’s heart wrenching vocals singing about the battle to pull yourself out of depression. “It’s about that mental feeling of being stuck in a time and place while the world continues to turn,” Lola says of the song. “Life goes one, regardless of the way you feel about it.”
Elsewhere, “The Man” plays with intimate balladry and electronic minimalism, while songs like “3rd Jan” and “Blind Love” cover different sides of her boundless sonic universe. The latter especially is so tender and barefaced, Lola’s voice pulled back to a whisper, that it feels inevitable that it will become emblematic of thousands of people’s relationships, the soundtrack to love itself.
“As a songwriter I like that I can listen to an album and I can feel inspired to write a song,” Lola says of her inspirations. “But usually I’d say that I write when I’m really in touch with my feelings. I use it as my therapy.” Raised on a diet of Joni Mitchell and Prince, Lola, as a standout lyricist, says that she feels particularly inspired by artists who she considers poets first. “A lot of people say that they don’t hear Joni or these artists in my music, but they’re there. I have always been interested in words and how they fit together.”
The battling spirit that saw Lola pushing against the authoritative restraints at school applies to her approach to her career. “I think it’s interesting because people always try to box you,” she explains. “But what I always say is that you should just make the box really big. Because at the end of the day, when people say they want to box you or pigeonhole you, it means that they want to restrict you. Without sounding narcissistic, I'm not really one thing. I'm quite a few things and my music is quite a few things. And I think that’s important to remember: you're not just one thing.”
Such self-assurance is essential in the music industry but Lola admits she still feels overwhelmed when hearing how her music resonates with people. “It’s intense,” she explains. “I struggle with personal issues myself and even though it’s really overwhelming and beautiful when people come up to me and tell me these things, I will only hear the negative. I feel like a lot of musicians are like that. They’ll come off stage and they’ll focus on what went wrong.” She is learning, though: “It’s important to forgive yourself for those things.”
Exceptionally talented with an undeniable creative focus, she is a musical force. A thrilling and uncompromising live performer with an astute and unique gift for writing songs that encapsulate and explore the human condition, Lola Young can’t be boxed or categorised. And because of that she is one of the most exciting new British artists ready to be discovered”.
Before coming to interviews from this year, I want to head back to last year. Atwood Magazine spoke with Lola Young about her incredible track, Woman. It followed up a terrific E.P. in the form of Renaissance:
“British singer/songwriter Lola Young opens her most empowering release to date with a raw foreword of sorts; an author’s note introducing the subject matter at hand, establishing both the context for the art we are about to experience and why we are experiencing it. Vulnerable, heartfelt, and polished, “Woman” features Lola Young in her finest hour with a stirring ode to and embrace of womxnhood. Unapologetic and fierce, it’s a seismic emotional outpouring and a stunning expression of love and respect not just for herself, but for all the womxn in her life.
Many great songs have been named “Woman,” and few have come as close to capturing the essence of womxnhood as Lola Young’s “Woman.” Released July 27, the artist’s follow-up to her April EP Renaissance is an effortless, intimately charged upheaval in the very best of ways. The 19-year-old pours herself out in an achingly honest dedication. “‘Woman’ is a song about female empowerment,” Young shared upon the track’s release. “It’s a song about how I feel towards the patriarchy, but also an introspective piece that looks at the gender roles and how these can be broken down. This song means a lot to me because it’s something I had never previously written about and it has an honest vulnerability to it that I hope makes people feel an understanding towards us women.”
I wanted to write an ode to women because I felt it was important, where we are socially, to use my voice to empower women and their bodies in particular.
Young’s lyrics bounce between empowerment, common critiques and double-standards for womxn, and pure assertions of strength, inner and outer beauty. She sugarcoats nothing, painting a vivid portrait of her female experience in a patriarchal society. As a song, “Woman” balances this structural imbalance with a feverish dedication to overcome, persevere, and embody the artist’s womxnhood. This vision comes to life in Young’s Olivia Rose-directed music video. “I wanted to make this video because I believe women are all undeniably strong, sexy, free, brave, vulnerable, raw and powerful, and that we do not have to hide away,” Young explains. “We do not have to remain unseen, our bodies should never be sexualised or a taboo conversation, or only seen through the male gaze. We have the ability to normalise our bodies being on show, and accept them for their differences, as It’s important to remember those differences are currently often shamed. I came up with the idea of the women in the video being fully nude. The energy on set was insane, I have never felt more empowered in my life. Nipples, bums, rolls, stretch marks, cellulite, all of these things are beautiful along with the ‘perfect’ body.”
This is my personal experience of being a woman; hopefully other women will have their own take on what it means to them.
Lola Young’s “Woman” is uncompromisingly soulful, impassioned, and utterly electrifying. Co-produced with Wolf Tone founder and producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence and the Machine, Rihanna), it is without a doubt the most mature offering we have yet heard from the emerging artist – a vivid immersion of intoxicating, deep grooves and heated vocals with a clear, strong vision”.
WHAT ATTRACTS YOU TO THE SUBJECTS OF BOTH FEMALE EMPOWERMENT AND STRIFE?
Lola Young: I don’t really know what attracts me to it; I guess I just feel things like most people do and because of this I want other people to feel things when listening to my music. This is quite a political song and I have always been attracted and interested in social politics so the fact that women’s bodies are definitely over sexualised is something I thought would be interesting to write about, as I haven’t heard many other songs speak about this.
YOU REPEAT THE WORD “WOMAN” AGAIN AND AGAIN, REALLY EMPHASIZING THE IDENTITY BOTH ASSOCIATED WITH AND TAKEN FROM THE WORD. WHAT DOES THAT WORD, “WOMAN,” MEAN TO YOU?
Lola Young: The word “woman” means very different things depending on how I’m feeling. However, in general I’d say the word woman means the ability to be strong whilst being emotional. The ability to be many things at once. To me it means being free whilst at some points being quite the opposite, but it also is about how we change that little by little and how a woman is of course different from a man, but nevertheless just as powerful.
YOUR SINGING IS TRULY RAW AND FEARLESS IN THIS SONG. HOW DID THE RECORDING PROCESS FOR CAPTURING SOME OF THESE INTIMATE LINES SHAKE OUT? WHAT WAS THAT PERFORMANCE LIKE, FOR YOU?
Lola Young: It was hard work recording the vocal for this song, but I really made sure I put myself in the place when singing that meant I could really feel the lyrics and the melody. It was tough and it took a while but I loved recording it over and over because it meant I could really try and capture the right emotive take”.
I am interested knowing when Lola Young got bitten by the musical bug and how it all started for her. A great interview with The Forty-Five from earlier in the year sees them ask her that, in addition to (among other subjects) when she started working on her stunning voice; also what the future holds for her:
“You got started in music incredibly young. Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Yeah, I was around 11 when I wrote my first song and it probably wasn’t any good. I can remember writing one, a Christmas song on the piano, and it was terrible! I just remember something about Santa and all this rubbish. It wasn’t great but it was the start of my development. I have material from when I was 13/14 that I still use today. Women mature a lot quicker, so I don’t think I’ve changed that much between 13, 14, and 20. Obviously, I’ve changed, but in terms of my songwriting style and everything, I don’t think that’s changed too much. There’s a song called ‘I Learned From You’, which is coming out in the near future and I wrote that when I was very young. I just wanted to be a songwriter at first.
When did you start to work on your voice?
Some artists, they’re born with an incredible voice. A lot of the best are gospel singers who go and sing in Church growing up. They just have it in them and for me, I couldn’t really do that. I had to go to vocal coaching and singing lessons to train my voice to ensure that it wasn’t weak.
I’m quite content with the way things are going but I did have a cyst on my vocal cords chopped off last year. It was horrible. My voice is much deeper and a bit breathier now and I couldn’t sigh high at all. I went to my GP and they said: “You either live with this and it’s fine. It won’t do any harm, but you live with it. Or we have to do surgery.” And I was like, “I’m doing surgery.”
After surgery, I had three days of no talking. I had to write everything down on a piece of paper. Obviously, they just didn’t like me talking – rude, right? So then after that, it was honestly pretty traumatic. The whole process of recovery, which is really hard because it’s not only that you need to relearn how to sing. It’s that you need to relearn how to talk.
Finally, what can we look forward to seeing from you in the future? Is there anything that you can tease?
So I’ve got a project coming out, which I’m very, very excited about. I’m not gonna give away too much, but it’s an EP called ‘After Midnight’ that’s very raw and not really like anything that I’ve done before. If I’m going to be honest, all the music I’ve made so far I’m happy and content with, but I also do feel like there’s more to me. Without sounding like Kanye! But I do think there’s more to me and I’m just excited for the next few projects. One day, I’d love to drop a trap album honestly, like straight trap songs, or some pure folk. So we’ll see!”.
NOTION spoke to Lola Young back in August about her new E.P., After Midnight. They asked whether, having released her debut as a teenager, the music industry treated her differently (compared with how they would deal with a slightly older artist):
“Firstly, mental health is such an important topic of conversation, so how are you doin
I’m alright you know; I think I’m good. I have a mental health condition, so I know and understand the struggle of someone who goes through it day-to-day. Luckily mine is very much sporadic, my episodes kind of come at different points in my life. So, right now I think I’m good, I mean it is what it is. I also just want to say thank you for asking this question because I think it is so important for it to become normality to ask people how they actually are. I’m someone who usually does ask that question, I think it’s really important to check up on the people around you, or even those that aren’t. I met a girl recently on a video that I was at, and I could tell that they seemed quite down, so you’ve always got to check. Sometimes you can sense it just by a person’s energy.
What inspired you to become an artist? Had you always known you wanted to do music?
Yeah, I’ve always known I wanted to do music since I was very young and it was just one of those things where there was never another option for me. It was only this. I was never really good at anything else when I was at school. Like I was good at school, but I wasn’t amazing, you know? And I feel like there are two types of people in this world, there are the people that are sick at school and academics and then there are the people that just aren’t very good. And with the education system, there seems to be this thing where there’s just no middle ground. I mean there are people who get B’s and C’s, but they just classify that as being ‘not good’. There are a lot of creative people in this world, and I think a lot of them have a tendency to be a bit contained or reserved when this shouldn’t be the case.
I read that you released your debut album at only age 18; have you felt people treat you differently in the industry due to your age [Lola is now 20]?
Yes and no. Growing up I was always – I don’t want to say mature, because I definitely haven’t always been mature, haha. But in the sense of that, I’m able to just talk to people and to communicate what I want. So, I don’t feel like that’s ever really been an issue because I always know what I want in regard to my music. Also, that first release, I see it more as just a little project that I dropped, and yeah, I guess you could call it an album, but it was more just me experimenting. Basically, I feel like people will only treat you differently if you feel differently yourself. Now that’s obviously not the same in every scenario, but I feel like people will only treat you differently if you allow them to.
Did the Covid-19 lockdown affect you as an artist or was it a blessing in disguise?
I’d say a blessing in disguise in some sense where I could really focus on myself and my music. But also, the complete opposite at times. It was very hard for a lot of people, especially us creatives because it messed up a lot of things. It messed up a lot of my plans and other artists’ plans. So definitely a blessing and a curse at the same time for sure.
How do you go about setting yourself goals? Do you tend to set massive ones or like month by month?
I think I try to set small ones but sometimes they just end up really big and too far for me to reach. I think it’s important to set yourself small goals. Even just when we spoke about mental health, setting small goals like I’m going to wake at this time tomorrow and make my bed. In reality, that is such a small goal but if you do it then it can help set off a chain of events. So yeah, in terms of my music I definitely try to set up a group of smaller goals rather than a few big ones”.
Not only is Lola Young the singer behind this year’s John Lewis advert. She could also be named as the BRITs’ rising star. Even if she is not, the fact that she has been nominated demonstrates how important and promising a talent she is! An artist with a long and successful career ahead of her, go and follow her and check out the music. London-based Lola Young is a remarkable songwriter and singer possessed of…
SUCH enormous promise.
_______________
Follow Lola Young
