Mostly addressed to a series of disappointing exes, Lola Young’s second album doubles down on a winning combination of zingers and vulnerability. This star-in-waiting’s flippancy and passive aggression are key to her huffy charm. Both approaches work: Young, from south London and the Brit School via a series of toxic situations, doesn’t mince her wordsto others, or towards herself.
The album’s guitar-heavy standout, Conceited, is a strutting R&B takedown of a narcissistic type with a mosh-pit chorus worthy of Arctic Monkeys, while Wish You Were Dead offers a blow-by-blow account of a fight between lovers so realistic there must be jumpy footage of it circulating online. At the other end of the scale is Intrusive Thoughts, a gentle sing-song that addresses the voices in her head. On the folk-leaning You Noticed, Young mourns an impossible relationship.
Yet however strong Young’s identity, stylistically the track listing is all over the place. There’s a reggae skank to Big Brown Eyes, while Good Books lurches towards Florence + the Machine. Cumulatively, it lacks cohesion. But “messy” is a state Young knows intimately. And while she undoubtedly has the vocal chops to go the slicker diva route, it’s this scuffed vividness that makes her so refreshing.
