Messy

"Messy" wades deep into the chaos of trying to shape yourself into someone your partner wants, only to discover that the act of being yourself can feel uncomfortably inadequate. The track wrestles with contradictions, encapsulated in its refrain about being "too messy" and "too clean," and distills the experience of relationships that leave you second-guessing your very essence. As Lola puts it, "This song is one of the most honest songs I've ever written. It's about not being able to make someone you love happy when you're just being you, which actually sucks. How the hell can being yourself actually be so uncomfortable sometimes?"

Written alongside Young's guitarist Conor Dickinson, "Messy" draws inspiration from a tangle of relationships - romantic and otherwise. "It's about my insecurities in bad relationships and how that insecurity feeds into what others see in you," Young explained to BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders. "You're stuck in this weird in-between space - not enough of one thing, not quite the other. It's been a journey putting that feeling into a song, but I'm proud of it."

Behind the boards, the track boasts a quartet of producers: Solomonophonic, Monsune, Carter Lang, and Will "Manuka" Brown. Fans of SZA might recognize their fingerprints, as all but Manuka contributed to her single "Saturn." Manuka is Lola Young's keyboard player.