Lola Young says breathing feels like 'hard work' after years of vaping

Lola Young says breathing now feels like hard work after years of vaping.

The singer posted a TikTok on Wednesday, Sept. 30, speaking directly to camera about the effects she is feeling. She kept the tone blunt and joking, but the message was clear. Billboard

“Breathing feels like a chore,” she said. Her lungs feel battery powered, she added, “like one big battery.” She laughed that breathing takes so much effort she should be paid £30-an-hour just to do it.

Young said people warned her years ago that vaping would catch up with her. She dismissed it at the time. Now, she said, that day has come.

She did not present the clip as a formal plan to quit. She joked that she will try to give up vaping when she is 45. She captioned the post “spoken word 4 ya.”

Young, 25, is a Grammy winner who broke through in the United States with “Messy.” BBC That single was her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, the US singles chart, and climbed to No. 14 in March 2025. She also features on Tyler, The Creator’s “Like Him,” which peaked at No. 43 on the same chart.

She collapsed onstage last year during a performance at the All Things Go Music Festival in New York. No cause was confirmed at the time in the material reviewed for this story.

For fans used to her plain-speaking posts, this one was typical Young. Short video. No statement. Just her telling it as she feels it.