She’s dominating the UK’s music charts thanks to her popular track Messy – and yet, most households probably still don’t recognise Lola Young’s name.

But that all looks set to change for the 24-year-old after she impressed viewers on both sides of the pond with performances on American late-night talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the BBC‘s The Graham Norton Show.

The South-London born songstress – who suffers with a rare schizoaffective disorder – also made history after becoming the youngest British female artist to score a solo number-one single since Dua Lipa in 2017.

Her new-found global success can be credited to her track Messy – which she’s said is an ‘ADHD anthem’ and an ode to ‘narcissistic men’, with lyrics such as ‘I’m too perfect ’til I open my big mouth’ and ‘I want to be me, is that not allowed?’.

The song went viral on TikTok after enchanting millions with it’s relatable verses – and even A-listers such as Kylie Jenner and Sofia Richie Grainge posted clips of themselves singing and dancing along to the catchy number.

It’s now reached number one in the charts for the second week in a row, which is no doubt quite the unexpected accomplishment for the singer considering the song’s album, This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway, was initially released in May last year.

Despite her recent triumph, some fans have branded the singer a ‘nepo baby‘ after discovering her aunt is none other than Julia Donaldson, the renowned author behind the beloved children’s book The Gruffalo and many other best-selling titles.

However, the BRIT school alumni, who is easily recognised by her facial jewellery, voluptuous eyelashes and curl-kinked mullet, has insisted the relatability of her listener’s ‘not feeling [like they’re] enough’, is the reason for the song’s success.

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She’s dominating the UK’s music charts thanks to her popular track Messy – and yet, most households probably still don’t recognise Lola Young’s name (pictured with her Official Number 1 Single Award)

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However, fame wasn’t instant for the star, who recently earned the title of the first current British artist to have a UK number one since Chase and Status and Stormzy in August, the youngest since Dave in 2022 and then Dua Lipa in 2017.

Her musical instincts kicked in from an early age, with the hitmaker saying she has been ‘singing since I could talk’.

She begun writing songs at just 11 years old before going on to win a national open mic competition aged just 13.

But she is humble about her talents and previously said her achievements were all down to ‘hard work’ and that being ‘born with the voice’ was ‘not the case at all’.

Previously describing her musical influences, Lola said she was raised on a diet of Joni Mitchell and Prince and feels inspired by artists who she considers poets first.

Lola’s childhood was filled with musical opportunity. As a child, she appeared alongside her mother, Imogen Moore De Pulido who works in HR and project management – in CBBC’s Got What It Takes? – a musical bootcamp set to test a group of talented performers and their mothers.

In the show, young hopefuls took on a series of challenges for the ultimate prize of performing at that year’s BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend.

Meanwhile, she also appeared on a television show that gave young teens a sense of what life working in the music industry was like.

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Her musical instincts kicked in from an early age, with the hitmaker saying she has been ‘singing since I could talk’

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As a child, she appeared alongside her mother, Imogen Moore De Pulido who works in HR and project management – in CBBC’s Got What It Takes? – a musical bootcamp set to test a group of talented performers and their mothers (Lola pictured as a teenager with her mother, Imogen Moore De Pulid, left)

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Lola’s (pictured) new-found global success can be credited to her track Messy – which she’s said is an ‘ADHD anthem’ and an ode to ‘narcissistic men’, with lyrics such as ‘I’m too perfect ’til I open my big mouth’ and ‘I want to be me, is that not allowed?’

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Amid spiralling success, the young artist (pictured in January 2025 in Australia) made musical history after becoming the youngest British female artist to score a solo number-one single since Dua Lipa in 2017

But the singer has never shied away from crediting her ‘artistic family’, who, she told The Telegraph, were ‘really helpful’ in building her career.

She eventually went on to hone her craft at the prestigious Brit School in Croydon, which is known for producing stars like Adele and Amy Winehouse.

Her manager Nick Shymansky vowed to never manage an artist again following the tragic death of the beloved Back to Black hitmaker – but quickly changed his tune when he met Lola.

‘Sometimes, you meet someone and it changes everything,’ he told The Telegraph. 

The singer is currently being managed by two men who separately worked with the two acclaimed female singers and is signed to Island Records, which is backed by some of the biggest names in the music industry.

Before making unrivalled success with Messy, the Londoner also had a handful of instances where she nearly made it, having sang on the 2021 John Lewis Advert and previously reaching the BBC Sound of 2022 list.

In 2021, at just 20-years-old, Lola made her TV debut by performing on James Corden’s Late Late Show, where she sang a version of Together in Electric Dreams as part of the promotion for the John Lewis Christmas advert.

From there, she attracted rave reviews in the media, with GQ hailing her as ‘one of the most exciting stars on the London scene’ and Elle UK describing her as ‘a star on the rise’.

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Despite being a relative unknown, the singer, whose talent agency describe her as ‘fiercely independent’, has been working in the industry since a young age. Pictured in 2021

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Lola released her second album This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway in May last year, which slowly grew traction online thanks to a wealth of TikTok fans

She was even rewarded with a nomination for the 2021 Brit Awards with a rising star award.

The previous year, she had signed to Island records and went on to release three EPs, where she sang about female empowerment and even danced naked in the music video for her song ‘Woman.’

At the time she told Atwood magazine about the 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.

‘I came up with the idea of the women in the video being fully nude… Nipples, bums, rolls, stretch marks, cellulite, all of these things are beautiful along with the ‘perfect’ body.’

Her EPs, Intro and Renaissance also gained wide acclaim for her soulful vocals and sharp, mature songwriting.

Later, Lola released her second album This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway in May last year, which slowly grew traction online thanks to a wealth of TikTok fans.

The tune Messy is currently the highest-charting single from any British artist globally, as well as being the biggest streaming single from a British artist globally.

Her successes has led her to amass 3.5 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Spotify.

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Messy went viral on TikTok after enchanting millions with it’s relatable verses – and even A-listers such as Kylie Jenner and Sofia Richie Grainge posted clips of themselves singing and dancing along to the catchy number

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Despite her recent triumph, some fans have branded the singer a ‘nepo baby’ after discovering her aunt is none other than Julia Donaldson (pictured), the renowned author behind the beloved children’s book The Gruffalo and many other best-selling titles

After discovering the family connection, fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to share their thoughts

But Lola doesn’t pin all the song’s success on social media. Speaking to the BBC she said: ‘That’s not necessarily how it blew up.

‘I would like to say that the song was blowing up before TikTok, and it was having its moment elsewhere. A lot of things contributed to the success.

‘The TikTok thing is great. I don’t make music for TikTok. I make music for myself and for my fans, but the Sofia Richie thing is just one element of how well it did in every aspect. But yeah, it’s been great to see every side of it.’

Speaking to Variety last week, she said: ‘Do you know what? I just can’t stand hearing it on the app. I obviously love that it’s on the app, I just don’t want to hear my own song when I open it.’

She noted that some of the lyrics, ‘I want to be me, is that not allowed?’ have resonated with fans on a intimate but global level.

In her own words, the song expresses the feeling of ‘like you’re not enough for somebody and also in turn not enough for yourself’.

Speaking about the origins of the chart soaring tune, Lola revealed she had written it in her bedroom during a chaotic breakup.

She said: ‘My relationship was ending, and it was closure for me. Then I started to think about my relationship with myself. I’ve got a big a** mouth and I’m a loud woman. I’ve got to own it.’

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Speaking about the origins of the chart soaring tune, Messy, Lola revealed she had written it in her bedroom during a chaotic breakup

Other fans have offered other theories for the inspiration behind the song, with some speculating whether it may about be about her family.

Discussing inspiration on the Jimmy Fallon show last month, Lola said: ‘It’s been speculated that it’s about my parents. It’s massively about some close family but it’s a combination.

‘It’s more about myself, I am too messy. I’ve never held a broom in my life. Everything in my life is a mess so it’s a very fitting track.’

She added: ‘I recently got diagnosed with severe ADHD. It’s been very hard but complex. It’s just about the complexities of how I feel about myself and, on top of that, narcissistic men unfortunately.’

Much to the amusement of the audience, Lola then added that she had written the song as an antithesis to the ‘clean girl aesthetic’ and not ‘washing your socks everyday’.

But the discovery of Lola’s connection to Julia Donaldson sparked a reaction from fans, some of who branded the songstress a ‘nepo baby’ for her familial ties to the children’s author.

Julia is a Scottish author, who first found success in the late ‘90s and went on to become the Children’s Laureate from 2011 to 2013.

Before her breakthrough as a writer, she penned songs for children’s TV, showcasing her storytelling talents through music.

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Messy has now reached number one in the charts for the second week in a row. Pictured, Lola

Now based in West Sussex, Julia was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her contributions to literature.

After discovering the family connection, fans took to X, formerly Twitter to share their thoughts.

‘Feel like this woman appeared out of nowhere in the past few months so I had a Google. Her Auntie wrote ‘The Gruffalo’ and she went to the BRIT school. LOL. Same as it ever was,’ wrote one X user in a post that has gone viral.

Another said: ‘Oh the Gruffalo. if your aunt wrote the Gruffalo you’re basically set for life. everyone knows the Gruffalo,’

‘If Lola Young suddenly burst onto the writing or literature world out of nowhere with a best seller, then sure! Her aunt being a famous author would warrant some nepo baby side eye but get an actual grip how is the Gruffalo helping her TikTok fame,’ insisted a third.

‘I don’t really think Lola Young’s aunt being Julia Donaldson makes her that much more of a nepo baby than anyone else who grows up with access to the arts and then makes it their career,’ a fourth claimed.

However, the artist has never shied away from crediting her ‘artistic family’ who she told The Telegraph were ‘really helpful’ in building her career.

‘Coming from an artistic family was really helpful because they understood that music is a real job, that I can make money from it,’ she told the publication in 2022, adding that she’d ‘never had a plan B’.

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Lola (pictured) eventually went on to hone her craft at the prestigious Brit School in Croydon, which is known for producing stars like Adele and Amy Winehouse

But things haven’t always run smoothly for Lola, who previously opened up about a string of mental health issues that threatened to finish her career before it had even started.

In the 2022 interview, Lola shared that she suffers with a rare schizoaffective disorder that had previously led her to manic episodes and hospitalisation.

She made the discovery aged 17 after having suffered with what she thought was clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

She explained that she had a uncle on either side of her family who also had schizophrenia and who had both tragically died.

Lola believed that the condition may in part have been triggered by smoking cannabis as a way to manage childhood trauma – which she chose not to disclose the details of.

She said she can usually sense an oncoming manic episode when she starts getting strange thoughts, but is usually able to medicate to keep things under wraps – though she has previously been taken by surprise and ended up being sectioned.

Lola admitted the unpredictability of her illness makes touring difficult and she sometimes has manic episodes that last a month and doesn’t sleep for several days on the trot.

Lola said that her illness can present her with a lot of guilt and shame and that she often feels ostracised after incidents in which she has been unwell in front of people.

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Lola previously shared that she suffers with a rare schizoaffective disorder that had previously led her to manic episodes and hospitalisation

But she credits her keeping herself on track to the loved ones in her life. Speaking to Beatroute Media, she said friendship was extremely important to her.

She said: ‘Friendship with me is very important. It doesn’t even have to be a deep level of friendship. It can just be like, “I know you, you get me, and we don’t need to talk about some stuff right now. We can talk about it later.”

‘That’s really important to me because when I’m on the road with people I trust, they keep me grounded and focused, and they won’t let me drink too much.’

She told the BBC that now felt like the ‘right time’ for her career to be taking off, having already released two albums, including her 2023 My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely.

Her success continues to grow, with sold-out UK and US tours, an upcoming debut at Coachella, and a nomination for Best Pop Act at the 2024 BRIT Awards. She has even recently featured on Tyler, the Creator’s well-received album Chromakopia.

Speaking to Variety, Lola assured fans there was music on the horizon, but that she was looking to ‘dig deeper and explore new terrain.’

She told the publication that she was ‘ready’ for the fame that Messy will bring and and is currently focusing on promoting the song.

While looking towards a illustrious musical career, Lola admitted she is cautious, fearing that her ‘big a** mouth’ could land her in hot water if she’s not too careful.

The self-confessed ‘honest’ artist said she worried about cancel culture since she isn’t ‘the most PC person’.