Lola Young has said she is “okay” after collapsing on stage during a festival performance.
The 24-year-old singer-songwriter, whose track “Messy” reached Number One in the UK charts last year, was performing at New York’s All Things Go festival on Saturday (27 September) when the incident occurred.
In video footage taken by a fan in the crowd, Young appears to stop singing her track “Conceited” and motion to members of her team off-stage. She then falls backwards, with members of Young’s band immediately leaping to their feet to help her. After a period of time in which Young remains on the ground, she is carried off stage.
Musician Remi Wolf appeared on stage shortly after Young’s departure, and told the crowd that the incident “was really f***ing scary”, but that “my friend Lola is backstage, and she is OK.”
Several hours later, Young herself posted a message to her Instagram Story in which she confirmed her safety.
“Hi, for anyone who saw my set at All Things Go today, I am doing okay now,” Young wrote. “Thank you for all of your support Lola xxx.”
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The incident follows a tumultuous week for Young. On Friday (26 September), her manager Nick Shymansky announced that Young was pulling out of a scheduled festival appearance in New Jersey, citing a need to “keep her safe”.
“Lola is very open about her mental health and there are very occasionally days where myself and my team have to take protective measures to keep her safe,” Shymansky wrote via Young’s Instagram Story. “She is an incredible person and always takes her fans, career and performances seriously. I can only send huge apologies for the inconvenience caused.”
Before she collapsed on stage at All Things Go, Young referenced the cancellation of her New Jersey date, telling the crowd that she’d had “a tricky couple of days”. She added: “Sometimes life can really make you feel like you can’t continue. But you know what? Today I woke up and I made the decision to come here, and I wanted to be cool. Sometimes life can throw you lemons, and you just gotta make lemonade.”
Young has spoken in interviews about having schizoaffective disorder, which can lead to prolonged manic episodes and hospitalisation. She was diagnosed at the age of 17, and told The Telegraph in 2022 that she can sometimes see manic episodes coming, and other times she is surprised by them.
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“Imagine a bottle overflowing,” she said. “At a certain point, it becomes impossible to put the lid back on, because it’s simply been shaken up far too much.”
She continued: “It’s difficult for me because sometimes it can make me feel very ostracised. There can be a lot of shame and guilt after I get unwell in front of people. But I want to be open about it. It makes me who I am. I am proud of it.”
Young’s second album I’m Only F***ing Myself was released earlier this month, with The Independent critic Helen Brown praising its “proper melting pot of genres”, with Young “vocally hopscotching from a ragged Cerys Matthews-style howl … to sweet, vulnerable crooning.”
Young is next due to perform at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse on 6 October, with her current tour scheduled to run through to the end of the year.
