Lola Young Opens Up About Cocaine Addiction After On-Stage Collapse & Break From Spotlight
Lola Young is opening up about her addiction.
The 25-year-old “Messy” singer got candid in a new cover story for Rolling Stone about what happened in the past year, including her break from the spotlight after collapsing on stage.
Keep reading to find out more…
The singer, who shared details in songs like “Not Like That Anymore” (“I’m a dumb little addict so I’ve been tryna quit the snowflake”), spoke about her massive success with “Messy.”
“It was a whirlwind of a year. It was so mad and beautiful and exciting, but it was also, at times, very sad,” she admitted noting that she was battling an addiction to cocaine and working with a sober coach who traveled with her for much of the year.
“If I’m gonna be honest with you, the enjoyment was deteriorating. Just small things that I had to do: an interview, a piece of promo. I just didn’t know all the stuff that comes with it. But I wasn’t in a good place, and there’s two sides of the coin…you want to say yes to everything because everything’s on the table, but then you also have to balance that with your mental health, and I’ve been super open about my mental-health condition that I suffer from, and also about all the other stuff that’s going on for me.”
Lola has been candid about being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and ADHD in the past.
Following her on-stage collapse at All Things Go in September, she visited a holistic center focusing on therapy and psychology instead of just addiction treatment, and she attends AA meetings and has a sponsor.
“I have watched it, yes. I saw it once or twice, and I haven’t really gone back to it since. Obviously, I’m not going to be searching it. It’s not something I’d like to search. But I am very grateful that it happened because it was, what do you call that? Like, a breaking point which allowed me to then be able to be here today, allowed me to be better for my fans, better for the future, and better for myself,” she told Rolling Stone of the incident that led her to take a break.
“One thing that’s really helped me is slowing down, mentally, taking time to process. Days off, that’s really important. Enjoying time with friends, people that love you. There was a bunch of hate, but you know what? F–k it. When you’re doing something, there’s always going to be a couple motherf–kers talking s–t. But at the same time, it was a decision, like I said, that I had to make, and it was sad that I had to do that. What else was I going to do, die? That was the reality of where my addiction was heading.”
“I’ve been away, I’ve taken some time out, and this is a beautiful comeback. It feels like a moment I’ll remember, and maybe other people will remember, hopefully. It feels like the right thing to come back to,” she added of her return in 2026, including her appearance at the 2026 Grammys.