What The Lola Young Backlash Tells Us About How We Treat Successful Women

Lola Young popped up on my TikTok the other day, as she often does ("Messy" was one of those inescapable hits that marketing teams dream of). The 24-year-old singer was responding to claims that she was an "industry plant" and " nepo baby ". "Some people are saying I'm a nepo baby because my great aunt wrote The Gruffalo ," she said, "I mean what kind of rubbish is that?" The comments were immediate and harsh. "She is incredibly unlikeable," one said. "I think the issue is just how unlikeable she is!" read another.

I'd be the first to roll my eyes at a nepo baby – and it's worth pointing out here that the issue isn't that her nan's sister wrote a book, but that she has wealthy familial ties, and was forged in the Brit School factory (although, so were national treasures Adele and Amy Winehouse ). It's a long-term sore spot here in the UK – working class aspiring artists unable to afford to pursue their craft, while better off kids get a leg-up, until the music industry is full of middle class offspring (British bands like Sports Team and The Last Dinner Party have dealt with the same critique).

That said, I was surprised – or maybe not surprised, but discomfited – by the sheer vitriol directed at Young and her videos. From jibes about her perceived personality (do any of these people actually know her?), to comments from random men about her looks, it very quickly became clear that Young has now ascended high enough to be on the receiving end of a concerted effort to bring her back down ("We made the wrong person famous," read one comment beneath a clip). It's a familiar pattern that many will recognise. Oh, I realised. She's been woman'd.

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of being "woman'd", the term was coined by culture writer Rayne Fisher-Quann to describe the moment when "everyone stops liking a woman at the same time" (think: Millie Bobby Brown, Cara Delevingne). It usually happens once a celebrity attains a certain degree of success, and thus starts to be perceived as overexposed. Then comes the backlash. "Often, the criticism starts off valid, and then spirals," wrote Fisher-Quann in an essay for i-D . "The result is a widespread 'vibes-based' hatred that frequently uses meaningful criticism as a crutch on which to hang preexisting resentment rather than as an instigator for earnest critical engagement."

Reference: See here