London, UK · alt-pop · soul

Lola Young

3 upcoming festivals

'Messy' made her unavoidable — raw South London soul-pop with a busted-heart snarl and a voice that earns the Winehouse comparisons.

Lola Young is a singer and songwriter from south London who came up through the BRIT School and released a string of EPs before breaking through to a wider audience. Her writing sits between alternative pop and neo-soul, built around plain-spoken, often unflattering lyrics about relationships and self-sabotage, and delivered in a rasping, heavily inflected voice that has drawn frequent comparisons to earlier British soul singers. The arrangements tend to stay relatively spare — guitar, drums and bass under the vocal — which leaves the phrasing exposed. Her song "Messy" became a substantial international hit and pushed her from a cult following into the pop mainstream.

alt-popsoul