Messy

A friend sent me the song “Messy” when it first came out in 2024. He said it reminded him of “Bitch.”

I didn’t hear any infringe-able element. I knew what he was talking about though. Both songs speak of a ‘diversity’ of character. But “Bitch” is about reclaiming the mess. “Messy” is more about addressing somebody else’s expectations of you.

In Ep 4 of Lena Dunham’s new show Too Much Jessica (Megan Stalter) points out to Felix (Will Sharpe) that only women refer to themselves as “messy” and that men don’t ever use that word to describe themself. (I’d like to dedicate another blog to THAT.) She suggests why not ‘chaotic’ or a ‘work in progress’ instead?

That said … I loved the song. It’s undeniably catchy.

So I took a deeper dive into the “Messy” artist Lola Young’s debut album, This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway. It’s aptly titled — I heard her share in an NPR interview that she never thinks about the consumer when she writes because if she did that what would she be doing it all for?

It was meant for her. We write to understand ourselves. Pretty refreshing.

Lola is self loathing, yet self-loving. Tortured and tormented. Conversational with no redactions. The songs are painfully personal.

Which is why I was surprised to find 4-5-6 writers on the material. Forgive me —that number is usually an indication (to me st least) of how colorfully an artist can communicate independently. But in today’s writing-room culture if anyone adds any element of production (or brings in a tray of Starbucks) they are likely to be cut in on the copyright. So I give her the benefit of the doubt.

There are lots of Fuck You songs and Wishing People Death.

“You Noticed,” is my favorite track — super vulnerable and endearing. Believe me, I was ready for it.

Comparisons have been made between Lola and Amy Winehouse (who wrote most of her songs by herself or with one other writer btw)  because of their retro pop-soul vibes and their struggle with sobriety. Lola has a sobriety coach. A sobriety coach??? That’s a thing, I guess. She tells us, “I’m a dumb little addict so I’ve been tryna quit the snowflake.” She’s open about her ADHD to boot. There’s clearly a lot going on here.

I have a theory: I believe many-an-artist invent/create/calculate/concoct/manufacture/fabricate (I can’t choose the right word) an affliction, a downfall, a divorce for the purposes of productivity … in order to be able to write material about a very well-received topic - rising above, moving forward, getting sober, starting over etc…

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think Lola is faking. I think she’s in danger. Her new album, titled I'm Only Fking Myself is described as an "ode to self sabotage.”

Lola and Amy also (coincidentally or not) were/are managed by the same Nick Shymansky who eventually gave Amy an ultimatum: get clean or he was out.

Sadly he was out.

So far Nick is hanging in there with Lola.

I hope we have the opportunity to hear about her progress.

Cause I often wonder (follow me here) if a journey of recovery is indeed part of your brand — your creative force — what happens (what do you write about) when/if you get well? What happens when you overcome that thing that defined you and for better or worse (usually worse) became your brand? That’s a messy question.

Amy never had the chance to answer it.

I hope Lola does.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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