British singer Lola Young has been on an upward trajectory since she landed her record deal in 2019, but she’s broken through in the U.S. with her viral hit “Messy,” which is about being yourself while you’re trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations. Lola told ABC News Live Prime why she thinks the song, which just hit #1 in the U.K., has connected in such a big way.
“I think it obviously resonated with people. I think there’s … like a trend on social media where there’s sort of this ‘clean girl aesthetic,'” Lola told ABC News Live Prime’s Linsey Davis. The “clean girl aesthetic” calls for a polished, minimalist, chic look, with subtle makeup and neutral tones. But if you’ve ever seen Lola, you know that’s not her.
“I think I managed to slightly change that narrative with the song, and just be more honest and raw,” Lola said, noting that she is “not always clean.”
But while “Messy” has turned Lola into a bona fide pop star, she’s reluctant to label her music as “pop.”
“I don’t know exactly what genre my music necessarily fits into but I think that’s the beauty of it,” she told Davis, adding that she’s “tried a lot of different things in the past” until she hit on “a bit of a combination of all of my influences.”
“I love a lot of old music, I love a lot of current, you know, modern music,” she said. “And I think I finally found that sweet spot that it just feels like a bit of everything.”
The 24-year-old London native is playing both weekends of Coachella in April. When asked if she’ll also be doing a North American tour, she says, “Definitely.”
(Video contains uncensored profanity).
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