Lola Young ends her hiatus with ‘From Down Here’, co-created with James Blake. Her first new music since collapsing at All Things Go 2025
Lola Young is back. Eight months after stepping away from her career following a collapse onstage at All Things Go NYC in September 2025, the Grammy and BRIT Award-winning British singer-songwriter has released ‘From Down Here‘, her first new music since the release of her third album ‘I’m Only F**king Myself’. The track was created with James Blake, alongside his partner Jameela Jamil and producer Dom Maker, and it is the clearest signal yet that Young is not simply recovering. She is rebuilding, on her own terms.
The song settles into an atmospheric, synth-driven landscape that feels quieter and more considered than anything in her recent catalogue. Young’s vocals sit close. The lyrics look inward, turning over the strangeness of arriving at a dream and finding it heavier than imagined. “And I know it’s not right / To long for parts of that life / But can I just reminisce tonight? / Acting my age / Turning the page / But what a boring book it would’ve been anyway.” It is not a comeback anthem. It is something more honest than that.
The Day After the Grammys
Young has been direct about where the song came from. “The day after the Grammys, I had a wave of inspiration hit me, so I got in the studio with the incredible James Blake and made this song,” she said in a statement. The Grammy moment itself was significant. In February, Young took home Best Pop Solo Performance for ‘Messy’, the track that first went viral in late 2024 and propelled her into an international touring circuit she was not yet ready for. She was also nominated for Best New Artist, performing a televised rendition of ‘Messy’ as part of the ceremony.
The months leading up to that win had been difficult. Young briefly left the stage mid-set at Coachella 2025 appearing unwell. A London Summertime Ball appearance was disrupted by equipment problems. A scheduled Tonight Show performance was pulled in July 2025. Then ‘I’m Only F**king Myself’ arrived in September, and within days, a New Jersey date was cancelled. The All Things Go collapse followed shortly after, and Young announced she was stepping back from everything.
She returned to the stage in January 2026. In a Rolling Stone cover story in March, she opened up about her alcoholism and the addiction treatment she undertook during her time away. The interview made clear that her break was not a reset. It was serious work.
What Comes Next
Blake’s production on ‘From Down Here’ reflects both where Young has been and where she appears to be heading. Dom Maker handled bass and drum programming. Blake contributed keyboards, strings, and background vocals. The result sits somewhere between intimacy and expanse, a sonic space that suits the emotional territory Young is now navigating.
The accompanying video, directed with a similarly restrained visual language, shows Young standing in water with her head just above the surface. It does not over-explain. It does not need to.
Live dates are already in place. Young plays two nights at O2 Apollo Manchester in June, followed by O2 Academy Birmingham, O2 Academy Glasgow, and two nights at O2 Academy Brixton in London. Come September she returns to All Things Go NYC, where she collapsed eight months ago. She has called it “unfinished business.” Austin City Limits follows in October.
I am rewriting the next chapter of my story,” she said, “because what a boring book the old one would’ve been anyway”
