The day we’ve been waiting for has come…the wonderful Lola Young’s brand new album I’m Only Fucking Myself is out today (sept 19th) and it’s everything we could have hoped for.
Lola Young is going from strength to strength; it’s not that long ago that she was your classic bubbling-under might-be-the-next indie hit; then in leaps and bounds she turned into The-Secret-That-Everyone-Knows-About and now, with this album, she has arrived, properly, that big neon arrow pointing downwards, flashing and glitching above her head.
Another doyen of the now famous BRIT School of Music…
Lola Emily Mary Young, born in London in 2001, grew up in Beckenham. Her heritage is mixed—Jamaican-Chinese on her father’s side, English through her mother—which gives her a rooted sense of identity that she’s often reflected on quietly in interviews. From a young age she was drawn to music: piano, guitar, singing lessons as a child, and writing songs by her early teens. She attended the BRIT School in Croydon, where her craft deepened and she started performing more seriously, winning Open Mic UK at 15 with “Never Enough”.
+++ Check out Lola Young’s brand new video single F**k Everyone +++
In the years that followed school, she released EPs (Intro in 2019, Renaissance in 2020) and songs that showed a wide palette of influences: soul, indie pop, R&B, art-pop. She had modest success early on, critical attention, but nothing like the tidal wave she’d later face.
The turning point was This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway, her 2024 album. It features the single “Messy”, which blew up—viral on TikTok, topping the UK Singles Chart, reaching global audiences. “Messy” became more than a pop-hit: people saw in it a vulnerability, an anger, an unpolished honesty that pulled in listeners who were disillusioned by curated perfection.
“Messy” became more than a pop-hit: people saw in it a vulnerability, an anger, an unpolished honesty that pulled in listeners who were disillusioned by curated perfection.
Behind that success, though, there has also been struggle. Lola has been open about being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at 17. She’s suffered recurring vocal-cord cysts, which in turn have affected her ability to tour or perform at times. She has also spoken candidly about addiction and personal loss, emotional instability—these are not just public relations talking points; they recur in her lyrics, and shape the texture of her music. In 2025 she came out as bisexual; identity, self-love, shame, public perception have all become part of the frame she paints in her songs.
Her popularity has grown steadily: early critical nods (nominations, performances), then streaming success, then “Messy” making her a global name. She’s had headline tours (This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway Tour), supported big acts, performed on international TV, at Coachella etc., and her fanbase seems to resonate with her rawness.
I’m Only F**king Myself feels like the point where Lola stops pulling punches
And the new album — I’m Only F**king Myself, released 19 September 2025 — feels like the point where Lola stops pulling punches. It’s framed by her own admission as an “ode to self-sabotage,” a chance to claw herself back from the brink. Sonically, she leans further into edgier, more unvarnished territory: less filtered, more aggressive, more ambivalent. We already have singles “One Thing”, “Not Like That Anymore”, “Dealer” leading up to it. The themes are familiar – addiction, self-loathing, identity, sex, toxic relationships – but now she deals with them more directly. There are songs that rage, that beg, that scream, that whisper. Critics describe it as raw, fearless: as though she’s turning her scars into her loudest instrument.
What makes this album leak personal life all over it is that nothing seems dramatized or glossed: her lived experience — the mental health diagnosis, the voice issues, the public scrutiny, the addiction — all bleed into the lyrics and the atmosphere. The cover art (she holds a blow-up doll of herself) is symbolic of self reflection, perhaps self-mockery, perhaps acceptance.
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