Being a burgeoning pop star requires a constantly evolving skill set. To the creative uses of social media (pretty much a prerequisite) and the knack for subsisting solely on Greggs’ vegan sausage rolls (it’s so hard to make money off music), we now add the requirement to take crowd selfies on two audience members’ phones at once, in the middle of a preamble to a song about your deepest, scariest thoughts.
South London singer-songwriter Lola Young, 23, is that gen Z multitasker, holding two strangers’ phones aloft as she pivots on stage to catch the crowd in shot. Dodging more devices thrust towards her, she does a second double selfie and catches her breath. “This is a dark one,” she says, “it’s been a hell of a journey.” Intrusive Thoughts, released two weeks ago, is about her schizoaffective disorder, a low-key ballad addressed to the thoughts themselves. Young’s thoughts are thinking about jumping off balconies. “Can’t we just play nicely,” she begs them. During the quietest parts, you can hear two big fans on top of the mixing desk whirring away.
