Lola Young topped the Half-Yearly RCS Media Monitors National Radio Airplay Chart with her breakthrough single ‘Messy’. meaning it was the most played song on radio for the first half of this year.
On the The Chrissie Swan Show, Chrissie and anchor Jack Charles spoke with Lola about the potential future release of her teenage songs, growing up in a household of girls and the true meaning behind Messy, which was not quite as expected.
Chrissie: We’re so thrilled to go directly to the source here, because Jack and I have been having a long standing argument about one of the lyrics in Messy. So it’s specifically this one, ‘and you don’t say hello because I got high again and forgot to fold my clothes.’ Right? That was my mum in the 80s. Like total cranky. Wouldn’t speak to me if she got home from work and there was dishes on the sink, which there always were. So I said this song is absolutely about her parents.
Jack: And I think Lola, it’s absolutely about a partner or, like, a shit guy you were dating. Like, it’s got to be in the romantic realm, who is right and who is wrong?
Lola: Okay, you’re both right, because the song kind of flicks between different people. Like, ‘you know, I’m impatient, so why would you leave me?’ That’s definitely about my ex. Because I remember, I waited outside the station for like, ages. Basically, I remember writing, and I was like, I need to encapsulate how it feels when you don’t feel like you’re enough for somebody, but you also you feel super insecure because your parents or your carers are kind of not loving you. So the clothes line was actually about a partner, so I guess you’re right. But some of the lyrics are about me not accepting who I am and my mum being like, Yo, I don’t know why you’re like this. And then I found out it was crippling ADHD. And then my mum’s like, actually, okay, you’ve got an excuse, but, yeah, I think the deeper meaning is definitely to do it with the kind of love, like, romantic love.
On plans to release her teenage songs:
Lola: One day, I want to release this, I have this idea that is called like, you know how people have vaults of material? I have songs I wrote when I was 13/14, that I still want to put out. And one of them is called, I learned from me, and it’s a really beautiful song that is really sad. And I was writing quite mature songs at that age. But then the songs kind of became a little bit more fun. And then, being 24 I felt like I went back. I should have released them when I was 24, the songs I wrote at 13, but they were quite deep.
You can listen to the full interview above.
The Chrissie Swan Show can be heard from 2pm to 4pm on the Nova Network Nationally or catch up with the daily podcast by downloading the Nova Player.