Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English
Every year, Coachella brings thousands of people out to the desert to get messy. And this year, hard-partying festival-goers will have the perfect soundtrack, courtesy of Lola Young’s hit of the same name.
The huge success of “Messy” — a chart-topper in her native U.K. and rising hit Stateside — has made Young’s Mojave stage appearance on Friday one of the weekend’s most hotly anticipated sets, not to mention transforming her into one of the year’s biggest breakout stars.
Back home, Young topped the charts for four weeks with “Messy,” which so far reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Since its release in May 2024, it’s scored half a billion Spotify streams; been used in 1.8 million TikTok videos (including viral videos from Sofia Richie and Reese Witherspoon with Will Ferrell); and seen the star perform it at the BRIT Awards and banter on sofas with Jimmy Fallon and Graham Norton.
While it may look like the classic overnight success story, Young’s rise is actually an old-fashioned tale of long-term artist development for her longtime label.
She first signed to Island U.K. six years ago at 17 years old, becoming label boss Louis Bloom’s first signing after he took over as president in 2018. And, while she had enough buzz to score the John Lewis Christmas ad in 2021 and make the BRITs Rising Star shortlist in 2022, it had never quite translated into sales and success — until now.
“She’s getting the recognition that she deserves,” Bloom tells Variety. “This is just the start of an incredible career. Even though she’s been at it for a while, we’re at a tipping point and there’s a lot of goodwill for her across fans and the artist community – people are recognizing what we’ve seen at the label for years. It’s not been an easy ride, but that makes it all the more worthwhile.”
Bloom first spotted Young at “an improv night” at London’s Hospital Club and was “totally blown away.” Having beaten off competition from several other labels to sign her, Bloom “made a pledge that, whatever happened, as long as I’m at the company, we would stick with her”.
It’s the kind of thing that many record company presidents might say, but Bloom had to put his money where his mouth was a few years in, when Young’s career looked in danger of stalling.
“I remember sitting down with her, Nick [Shymansky, Young’s manager], Jack [Greengrass, Island U.K. senior A&R manager), Sam [Flynn, senior marketing manager] and the core team at the label and giving them the old Einstein quote (‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’),” he recalls. “I was like, we’ve got to stop, recalibrate and work it out.”
Young has also been upfront about her mental health issues, and Bloom says the label works closely to manage her workload with Shymansky, who was Amy Winehouse’s original manager. (“Nick’s a brilliant guy, very sensitive – I don’t think there’s anybody else that could manage Lola like he has.”)
After Young took time out to redefine her sound and style, she returned with a more alternative-infused-with-hip-hop vibe for second album, “This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway,” also appearing on “Like Him”, a collaboration with Tyler, the Creator, which has won praise from the likes of SZA. The rest, the label hopes, will be pop history.
“I’m looking at talent every single day and I knew that Lola was on another level to most things I’ve ever encountered; she’s a once-in-a-generation talent,” says Bloom. “So, even if the songs weren’t connecting, I knew she’d get it right. I never lost faith. Of course, we were in the hole financially, we’d spent and we’d spent, but I’m lucky to be in a culture at Universal where – whilst I have to look at those things, I run a business – I’m allowed to do that.”
Bloom, now President of the newly merged Island EMI Label Group, says Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Sir Lucian Grainge has taken a personal interest in Young’s progress. “He’s always really connected to her talent; we’ve listened to a lot of music together and his insight’s been invaluable on Lola,” says Bloom, while newly appointed Universal Music U.K. chairman/CEO Dickon Stainer is “laser-focused” on breaking Young internationally.
Indeed, after a run of breakthroughs as barren as the Colorado Desert Young will be playing in at the weekend, the rising star – who has also seen “Messy” breaking through in Australia, Latin America and across Europe – finds herself flying the flag for a British industry desperate to prove it can still produce global stars.
“We’re comfortable [with that] and so is she, she’s very ambitious,” says Bloom. “She represents what’s great about Britain; she’s got an incredible personality, the humor that could only come from here, she’s disruptive, she’s powerful and she references some of the greatest music the world has ever made, and a lot of that comes from this country. We’re competing with the most amazing music from America, so we’ve really had to up our game as a country in terms of creative. There are some really great things happening in the U.K. at the moment.”
Indeed, Bloom’s label has bucked the trend to provide some of the few bright spots for British music in recent years, having also overseen breakthrough cross-genre success from the likes of the Last Dinner Party, FLO, English Teacher and Nia Archives, as well as Irish star Hozier. And Bloom says, while the label always looks at supporting data, he favors signing artists based on exceptional talent, rather than social media stats.
“Britain has this beyond-amazing musical history,” he says. “We’re all lucky to be part of that, and I’m determined that we won’t lose it. I’m not interested in anything but globally impactful artists. I believe that the very best always comes to the top; it may take a bit longer and it may be a hard road to get there. But sign greatness and you’ll get there in the end.”
Bloom says the new Island EMI Label Group he leads will give him even more leverage to break artists – the new company topped the U.K. market share standings in Q1, according to the Official Charts Company.
He pledges the second Last Dinner Party album, due later this year and currently being worked on with producer Markus Dravs, is “really, truly amazing”. Meanwhile Young – who will play Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre on April 15 and appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during her current Stateside trip – will also release a “sensational” follow-up album before 2025 is over, even as “Conceited,” another track from “This Wasn’t Meant…,” starts to gain traction.
Bloom, meanwhile, is out in California for Coachella, where he expects Young to show off her “live superpower”.
“Lola’s got all these sides to her, and there’s so much more to discover,” says Bloom. “I’m starting to see kids at the shows looking like her and talking like her – that’s when you know you’ve got something.
“Every few years, an artist has come out of the U.K., changed the game and taken things to the next level,” he adds. “I think Lola is that artist. There’s no limit to her appeal. She can sit next to the all-time greats, and I really mean that.”
