Artist: Lola Young
Album: This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway
Reviewer: Tatiana Silva
This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway is the ambitious and unafraid Lola Young’s sophomore album. Lola hails from the UK and rose to place fourth in the BBC Sound of 2022 list after being nominated for the Brit Rising Star Award in 2021. Her downtempo dreamy cover of “Together in Electric Dreams” for the John Lewis Christmas Advert in 2021 solidly put her on the map, but her fans know she’s been on the scene since 2019. Lola is no stranger to great talent and has Solomonophonic (Jared Solomon) as her righthand man and executive producer. He is most known for his work with Remi Wolf, Brockhampton and Dominic Fike.
I discovered Lola Young while mindlessly scrolling on whichever platform I was on at the time and immediately was taken aback by the stark freshness of the familiarity Young portrayed in her videos. Singing directly into the phone camera anywhere from public transport, a laundromat or a busy intersection about things like heartbreak and why she could never fit a particular mold. While a DIY approach could potentially inhibit an artist from conveying their full expression, this is the rawness Lola wants to depict and certainly details lyrically in her music.
This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway is one to be belted and one to be listened to in its entirety. Lola processes her pain, anguish, self-hatred, love lost, love gained and “weird other things.” She admits that it was a very strenuous process to write but equally cathartic and amazing on a spiritual level. Which was always meant to be the case, as the album wasn’t meant for you anyway. Yet I am eternally grateful that this project was in fact shared.
Lola is honest and forthcoming in her struggles with mental health, being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and traversing the ever-rocky love realm. Lola writes straight from the heart and by order of experience and intuition, making for almost too fine-pointed lyrics that she laughs at the fact that she must remember to keep some of it metaphorical (namely the choruses) so that she isn’t just singing directly to the person.
This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway is 11 tracks but might as well be a 12-step program for the heartbroken. Opening song “Good Books” hits with the zinger, “I work hard to stay in your good books but you don’t read so why do I try?” The proceeding tracks “Conceited,” “Wish You Were Dead” and “Big Brown Eyes” are the ones meant for belting at the top of your lungs in an interpretive somatic rage fashion. Lola fully opens the door into her universe, as “Messy” could be sung about your relationship to anyone, never being quite enough of anything to check the green box. Hold on because “Walk On By” and “You Noticed” will have you wanting a hot candlelit bath to sob in. Breakups open the door for new entanglements; “Crush” and “Fuck” touch on the fine line of moving on and falling into old habits. The album closes with a solemn and gentle ode to Lola’s intrusive thoughts. And like a Marvel movie if you wait until the very very very end, there’s bits of pure gold that I’ll just let you discover on your own.
I truly believe that Lola Young has created an album that deserves any and all attention and accolades it receives. This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway is a cathartic indie-pop album written for the soul and not for the glorification of fame and the rich. The type of album I am already daydreaming about singing to when I have a tough bout, one that my future children will probably hear over and over, an album to revisit, and like a catch-up with a friend that feels like the most oxygen you’ve had in weeks.
Lola is currently on tour in the US and is playing Portland and Seattle at the end of the month. She claims to love the energy of American crowds so let’s see if we can get her to stop in Boise on the next tour! In the meantime, grab the record (they’re red and hand-numbered!) and thanks for reading!
XOXO Tati