
Lola Young is overcome with emotion as she reveals she has bought her first house amid huge success ahead of second album
Since then Lola Young's career has gone from strength to strength with the star preparing to release her second album in September.
And the singer has now celebrated a huge milestone as she shared the news with fans that she has bought her first house.
Taking to Instagram on Friday, Lola, 24, was overcome with emotion as she gushed how proud she is of herself after years of hard work.
She told fans: 'I am currently sitting on the floor in one of the bedrooms of my new house that I have just bought. I am so proud of myself and emotional to be honest.
'I am so excited to start a new chapter of my life here and make memories, make so memories.'
She added: 'So yeah working hard does pay off, it really does.'
The star took to the stage at Glastonbury in June and is set to embark on shows across the UK and US in the autumn.
Her latest single d£aler was released last week, with Elton John already 'betting his house' that it is going to be a number one single.
'It's unbelievable, it's the biggest smash I have heard in years,' said the legendary musician during a chat on Apple Music.
He added: 'You are going to have the most incredible career, because you can sing live, you are just the whole deal.'
Earlier this year Lola was forced to address allegations she is a 'nepo baby' or an 'industry plant ' after fans discovered her aunt is Julia Donaldson, the author behind the beloved children's book The Gruffalo.
People also hit out, calling Lola an 'industry plant,' which is someone who presents as organically growing their fame but have actually been set up by a label.
Appearing on Capital Buzz, host Sam Pearce asked the rising star: 'Something that happens any time an artist blows up, the term industry plant gets thrown around, and obviously people have no idea that you've been working since 2019. How do you feel about that term?'
She continued: 'I am so excited to start a new chapter of my life here and make memories, make so memories'
Hitting back at the 'losers that comment rubbish,' Lola quipped: 'No, they don't know, otherwise they wouldn't be saying that. I think it is just the most stupid term.
'I think there are cases of industry plants but so what? It doesn't mean they're not talented and it doesn't take away from anything.
'People are saying I'm a nepo baby because my great Aunt wrote The Gruffalo. I mean what kind of rubbish is that?'
She continued: 'I have so much to say on that which I can't even talk about. But I'm not a nepo baby, I'm not an industry plant, there we go I said it.
'I've cleared that up for all those losers that want to comment rubbish on the internet. Just find something better to do, you're sad, you're lonely.
'The thing is industry plant is just a term for other artists and other people to use who just don't know what they're doing in life and feel upset that someone else is having their moment.
'And if you are an industry plant, you're not going to have your moment for that long, unfortunately.
'And maybe sometimes you will, it just doesn't matter, none of these things matter. If someone's got talent, then they've got talent.'
She then clarified: 'Yeah, and I'm also not an industry plant at all by the way.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
40 minutes ago
- Metro
Bonnie Blue's 'disturbing' documentary causes crisis after outrage from brands
Channel 4's controversial Bonnie Blue documentary has sparked outrage from major brands, resulting in adverts being pulled. Bonnie Blue: 1000 Men and Me documented the OnlyFans creator's bid to have sex with 1000 men in 12 hours, investigating whether it was 'empowering' or 'pandering'. The stunt saw her sleep with 1057 men, with the hour-long documentary quickly slammed as 'disgraceful' and 'disturbing' by viewers. Now, brands like Smirnoff, VISA and Cawston Press have removed their adverts both online and in the app during the programme. The Times reported that multiple brands requested this removal as they did not feel the documentary aligned with their values or advertising guidelines. 'Channel 4 is a commercially funded public service broadcaster,' they shared in a statement. 'We use commercial revenues such as advertising to make programmes that deliver our remit to create change through entertainment across a wide range of issues. Our programming is created independently from our commercial operation.' However, those advertisers have restrictions on what kind of content they can be associated with, especially regarding anything of a sexual nature. Addressing the Bonnie Blue documentary, a Channel 4 spokesperson told Metro: 'We take great care to ensure that advertising is appropriately placed across all programming, particularly where content may be sensitive or potentially contentious. 'In the case of 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, the programme was reviewed in advance of transmission to ensure advertising was suitable. Several brands and categories were excluded to avoid inappropriate juxtapositions.' The documentary — and Bonnie herself — have been the source of huge amounts of controversy due to the graphic nature of the content. One scene saw the controversial OnlyFans creator dressed in a school uniform in a classroom with other younger stars, preparing to film an orgy. Before the Channel 4 programme, OnlyFans banned the streaming of the feat and has since blocked her account entirely. Bonnie – real name Tia Ballinger – was one of the most successful OnlyFans creators, claiming to earn more than US$2 million (£1.5 million) per month. The ban on the video subscription site came into place after she advertised a 'petting zoo' event in which she planned to be 'put in a box for people to do what they want'. Channel 4 clearly anticipated the backlash with commissioning editor Tim Hancock defending airing the more shocking scenes ahead of its screening. 'I believe it is Channel 4's job to tell stories like this that are at the edge of modern morality,' he said. 'I commissioned this documentary because Bonnie is the tip of a huge iceberg. Since the pandemic, there has been a cultural shift in the acceptability of creating adult content and the types of people do it.' Her previous stunts include having sex with legal teenage boys at Freshers' Week, interactions which were filmed and involved some of them losing their virginity. More Trending Bonnie dismissed those who implied she was 'traumatised', insisting she 'come[s] from a beautiful family' and 'genuinely love my life, and I'm super grateful for it.' Concern about the documentary extended beyond the advertisers, as children's commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza said it risks damaging efforts to protect children from the impact of online porn. She said: 'For years we have been fighting to protect our children from the kind of degrading, violent sex that exists freely on their social media feeds. This documentary risks taking us a step back by glamorising, even normalising, the things young people tell me are frightening, confusing and damaging to their relationships.' View More » Bonnie Blue: 1000 Men and Me is streaming on Channel 4. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Everyone in the Celebrity SAS 2025 Cast as hit-show returns tonight MORE: 'One of the smartest shows on television': Your favourite TV spy thrillers MORE: Channel 4 comedy branded 'a gift' to be greatest comeback of 2025


Metro
40 minutes ago
- Metro
‘It was a slap in the face when Ed Westwick got the role I auditioned for'
Sitting at a booth in Soho Theatre's cafe on a Thursday morning, actor Jassa Ahluwalia tells the story of being out for dinner when he received an email about a job that felt like his 'Hollywood moment'. 'It seemed that everything that I'd been working towards was coming to fruition. The universe had beautifully conspired to land this perfect role in my lap,' the 34-year-old tells Metro. Pulling out his phone and opening his inbox, he leans forward to read the message out loud: 'Character breakdown – this is a large supporting character. Note: It is crucial to the narrative and the character's story arc that Brooke is convincingly accepted in aristocratic circles as white British. The character is currently written as having Indian heritage on his mother's side.' 'They were describing me ,' he recalls. Born to a white English mum and a brown Punjabi dad in 1990, Jassa couldn't believe his luck that the TV pirate series, Sandokan, set in South Asia, was being made and he had a chance to play the role of Lord James Brooke. 'It felt like the acting industry was listening, paying attention and caring,' he remembers, his eyes widening at the memory. His self-tape — a short video where Jassa spoke about his heritage and read lines — led to an invitation for a screen test, and in November 2023, Jassa made his way to Bang Studios, just a stone's throw from where he sits today. 'Even just talking about it, my stomach's remembering the emotion. I was tingling, I was so alive,' the actor says. 'It sounds ridiculous, but I was trying to find ways to stay grounded. They had a miniature Buddha with a little tea light in the loo. I had a moment with it, touching its feet while thinking of how far I'd come to get to where I was. I was saying 'Thank you'.' After hair and makeup, Jassa was guided to a room filled with casting directors and producers, all crowded behind a desk with monitors. Over 30 minutes, he performed a scene under lights and cameras, partly in Punjabi, which was, he says, requested by the room. As the meeting ended with hugs, the word 'perfect' was lobbed around, and Jassa felt things couldn't have gone any better. However, on December 15, he got a rejection email. It praised 'utterly wonderful' Jassa for his 'beautiful work', but told him they weren't going to be progressing with him. When Jassa asked for more detailed feedback, he says he was told there was 'nothing constructive to pass on'. 'It was heartbreaking. I didn't know how it was possible to nail it so hard and still not get the gig,' he admits. As an actor since his teens, Jassa was accustomed to the rejection process, so he picked himself up and moved on. That was, until he read in the press a few months later that the role he had auditioned for — Lord James Brooke — had been given to Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick. It was 'like a slap in the face', remembers Jassa. 'They wanted the guy from Gossip Girl that people knew, and all that specificity and vulnerability that I shared didn't count for anything. The whole experience made me feel unimportant – my mix was just a tick box for a second, but it wasn't actually important. 'A little bit of my love for the industry died at that moment. I thought, 'F**k this, why am I pouring my heart and soul into this business?'' Sandokan is a reboot of an Italian TV series that aired in 1976 and was sold to 85 countries. Fremantle-owned Lux Vide is now putting a new spin on it with Can Yaman taking the lead role. It will air on the Italian state broadcaster RAI and be distributed worldwide. Set in the mid-19th century on the island of Borneo, the native Dayak tribes are dominated by ruthless Brits. Sandokan doesn't initially pick a side, but when he marries the daughter of the British consul, Marianne (Alanah Bloor), he begins to fight against colonial powers with his motley crew. The synopsis teases that pirate hunter Lord James Brooke (Ed Westwick) 'will stop at nothing to capture Sandokan and win Marianne's heart.' Angeliqa Devi, who is Bengali, has been announced as playing Brooke's mother, Hita. Jassa says that 'unless there's been a radical change to the script' Ed's character is still mixed. To Jassa's knowledge, an important part of the plot is that people are made to believe that Hita is a servant, not Brooke's parent. The rejection felt extra painful, admits Jassa, because he struggled with an 'obsessive desperation' to succeed due to a complex relationship with his mixed identity. 'It's no coincidence that I associate performing with a feeling of belonging because of an early happy memory I have of dancing Bhangra as a kid on the streets in India,' he explains with a smile, showing a photo from the trip. 'I was always unconsciously trying to get back to that.' Jassa studied at a subsidised arts program in Leicestershire throughout his school years, which made him feel that an acting career was 'tangibly achievable.' His youthful optimism felt well-placed when he landed a role on the BBC coming-of-age series Some Girls, playing lovable bad boy Rocky in 2012. 'I had a few years of things snowballing with parts in Casualty, Peaky Blinders, Ripper Street and The Whale. I was around a crowd of people, like John Boyega and David Gyasi, who were bubbling then blowing up. I thought it was going to happen for me, and then… it didn't. 'There had been a shift in the industry towards trying to tell more representative stories, but my voice wasn't welcome in that conversation,' he says of the 2010s. 'It was surface-level, productions just wanted to look diverse.' Jassa became increasingly frustrated with a landscape where the role of mixed-race characters felt more like an exercise rather than a thoughtful process, despite being the fastest-growing demographic in the UK. He cites one episode of Line of Duty where they say one of the suspects is mixed race [in the opener of season five, Vihaan Malhotra is asked to describe the woman who has been blackmailing him], 'but they don't say what mix, but everyone is like 'cool, understood'.' In 2019, Jassa felt a desire to take action after a follower responded to a video of him speaking Punjabi on social media, expressing shock at his fluency due to him being 'only half'. The actor quickly replied that he was 'both, not half', which went on to become a popular hashtag, as well as a TEDx Talk, documentary, and a book deal. As he grew more vocal, Jassa also became increasingly keen to incorporate his heritage into his acting. 'I wanted to bring my Punjabi-ness to work, because for years it felt like it was going to limit me,' he explains. 'It wasn't somebody explicitly sitting me down and saying, 'You should never talk about your Punjabi heritage', but the little signals I got were that to get ahead, you need to conform as much as you possibly can.' When asked what needs to change to strip these attitudes, Jassa — who is a member of Equity, the UK's trade union for the performing arts and entertainment industries — has a list ready and reaches into his rucksack to pull out a notebook filled with pages of scribbles. Although, he barely needs to glance at them: equality, finances, and intention need to be addressed, he explains. 'In any recruitment process, you expect people to be treated the same. I was asked in my audition to riff in Punjabi. Was Ed Westwick asked to do that?' Moving to his next point, he says: 'It all comes down to money. We're living in a time where the arts are increasingly under attack, so people in power are making safer choices, which uphold what has gone before. 'We're not getting any radical shift forward in this climate, so audiences are being deprived of incredible, world-changing, creative work from talented people who need to prioritise feeding their families, so leave the industry. 'Ed's involvement was probably a lot easier to justify to the finance team than mine, but we need to be thinking of why we are telling stories. Is it a white presenting mixed character for exotic dramatic intrigue, or because they are exploring an underrepresented part of history with sensitivity and authenticity?' As Jassa gets more passionate in his point-making, his voice shakes, and the actor admits: 'I find it hard to balance my personal emotions with my rational union brain.' However, the reason behind it all is simple, he adds: 'These stories should be told because we should be reflecting the society we live in, so everyone feels seen.' More Trending As for Jassa himself, he's in a happy place and is focused on writing more books, spreading his message further to challenge misconceptions and making changes through his role in the union. As he gets set to cycle off to his next engagement, he says: 'Now that I feel I have found a sense of home within myself, I'm not craving it as much from performance. 'I am no longer content to quietly pass as white, I want to assert my Punjabi heritage. I want mixed people on screen as they are, not as ethnically ambiguous shapeshifters. 'Being a chameleon is part of the joy of being an actor, but I want to play with my true colours.' View More » Metro has contacted Fremantle's Lux Vide for comment . Follow Jassa on Instagram here. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: I sold a bikini on a preloved site – now I'm wondering who bought it MORE: We went out with London's 'pickpocket hunter' to watch him sniff out thieves MORE: I'm a part time witch and use my powers to get back at my exes


The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Billie Piper breaks silence on ‘emotional' return to Doctor Who
Billie Piper has spoken about her "last-minute" appearance in the Doctor Who season 15 finale, where she seemingly replaced Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor through regeneration. Piper described the filming as "very emotional" and noted the "cloak-and-dagger" secrecy surrounding her involvement. She expressed her deep affection for the show, saying she could not refuse the opportunity to return to the "Whoniverse". Piper previously played Rose Tyler, companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, and returned for the 50th anniversary episode in 2013. Gatwa previously explained his departure from the programme was due to the role's demanding nature, calling his exit "bittersweet".