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Stream: “Wish You Were Dead” – Lola Young
The scene opens on a mess in progress.
“Can you come around? F**k me nice,” Lola Young sings, her aching voice hot on the mic as she lights a cathartic, carnal fire. “Pull my hair… Sing me lullabies… And we can pretend that we’re in love.” Her words are provocative, full of both passion and pain as she reflects candidly on a situationship that – very clearly – isn’t right.
But we don’t always see clearly in the heat of the moment, and it’s easy to mistake toxicity for love. Rising with a tender fury, Young’s new single “Wish You Were Dead” is an emotionally-charged fever dream laying bare all those emotions that boil inside, burning us from within until they come spilling out in a raging frenzy.
It’s a song of inner and outer friction; of unrelenting turbulence and undeniable trauma.
And it’s a song she had no choice but to write – a release that was coming, whether she liked it or not.
We can pretend that we’re in love
Until I throw a punch
You call me a c***
And that tips me over the edge
Ha, you throw my phone out the window
The next thing the neighbor
said she’s calling the feds
And I wish you were dead
For a sec, I wish you were dead
I wish you were dead
Put out at the top of this year, “Wish You Were Dead” is Lola Young’s first single of 2024, and a truly dramatic, all-consuming eruption from tense, intimate, and achingly raw depths. The follow-up to last September’s “Conceited” sees the BRIT-nominated, 23-year-old English singer/songwriter continuing to plunder her soul, building upon the foundations of last year’s debut album My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely, while at the same time completely throwing out the script and starting again.
Not to say her first LP isn’t an outstanding feat in its own right – it remains a stunning and absolutely singular listening experience – but Young’s fearlessness in the face of her own growth and change is equally remarkable. She holds nothing back in “Wish You Were Dead,” rising steadily to a climactic fever pitch as she builds out this image of a fraught, fractured relationship held together by sex and loose stitches:
But then you come around
At ten p.m., we watch TV
And break a bit
And we can pretend that we’re in love
We can pretend that we’re in love
Until I throw a punch
You call me a c***
And that tips me over the edge
Ha, you throw my phone out the window
The next thing the neighbor said she’s calling the feds
And I wish you were dead
For a sec, I wish you were dead
I wish you were dead
For Young herself, writing and recording this song gave her a kind of clarity about her now-ex that she simply didn’t have before.
“It definitely was a release for me, and meant that I could unfold some things about myself and my ex-partner, and learn some things about my relationship I didn’t quite know before,” she recalls.
And for those who hear this song, and see parallels in their own lives?
“Be kind to yourself,” Young says. “Remember relationships aren’t the be all and end all of life, learn to love yourself first, and also remember that mistaking passion and toxicity for love is never the way forward.”
You come around
f*** me nice
Pull my hair
Sing me lullabies
Until I throw a punch
You call me a c***
And that tips me over the edge
Ha, you throw my phone out the window
The next thing the neighbor said she’s calling the feds
And I wish you were dead…
Atwood Magazine caught up with Lola Young earlier this year to get under the hood of her fiery, utterly irresistible new music. Dive into “Wish You Were Dead” and more in our interview below, and listen both that and Young’s latest single, the tender, aching “Intrusive Thoughts,” both of which are out now!
One thing we know is sure: As Lola Young’s star continues to rise, she’ll be taking us along for the ride of a lifetime. As chilling as it is charged, “Wish You Were Dead” marks the beginning of a bold new era as the artist leans more than ever into herself, trusting her gut in making music that is truly unapologetic, uncompromising, unfiltered, and unstoppable.
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:: stream/purchase Wish You Were Dead here ::
:: connect with Lola Young here ::
A CONVERSATION WITH LOLA YOUNG
Lola Young: I don’t like to make too many new year’s resolutions as I will most likely look back and feel rubbish if I don’t complete them… but I want to try and make two albums of music this year that I’m really proud of, and maybe try and quit vaping! [laughs]
Lola Young: My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely is a project I’m super proud of and always will be, of course I sometimes look back and wish I could’ve done things slightly differently in terms of specific vocal choices or whatever, but in general they still massively resonate with all of the songs on the project.
Lola Young: “Don’t Hate Me” is a fun, honest track, I think people like its simplicity and raw vocal and slight punk unapologetic energy. I love it too probably for that same reason.
Lola Young: Thank you, I really appreciate that. This song is more for me about coming back with a striking sound that feels new to me. It has an uplifting feel, yet underlying it’s got a bit of spite, and sonically its the most unique style I’ve played with for sure.
Lola Young: Relationships can get out of hand, and this is my way of expressing it… I feel as if my previous relationship became slightly toxic and unhealthy, I therefore wanted to create a song that talks about that in a way that sheds light on both sides of an uncomfortable feeling.
Lola Young: It’s a statement; I like being clear when writing lyrics, and a bold lyric is write up my street.
Lola Young: I’m using sex as a way to hide and mask the truth, as there was a lack of love and respect within the relationship, that’s what I mean by pretend!
Lola Young: I would recommend therapy to be honest – as much as that genuinely sounds like a piss-take, I think that everybody has room for inner improvement and looking within one’s self is so important to help navigate different obstacles in relationships.
Lola Young: Be kind to yourself, remember relationships aren’t the be all and end all of life, learn to love yourself first, and also remember that mistaking passion and toxicity for love is never the way forward.
Lola Young: It definitely was a release for me, and meant that I could unfold some things about myself and my ex-partner, and learn some things about my relationship I didn’t quite know before.
Lola Young: Don’t take me too seriously, but please take my music seriously [laughs] – it’s all I have and all I care about! Listen and try and feel something, whatever it is that may be.
Lola Young: I’m not super fun [laughs] – there’s not many super interesting fun facts about me – although I have more shoes than brain cells!
Lola Young: I guess that I am starting to find who I am and what I’m about as I grow up – and the more I release, the clearer that becomes. I hope people can do the same, with some of my music as the soundtrack.
Lola Young: I love Sza of course, Frank Ocean and all the best, but some cool stuff I’ve been loving as of recent are a band called Pinegrove, I’ve been loving Yeat, Molly Payton, Current Joys, Men I Trust, and Jordan Ward!
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