My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely

My Mind Wanders and Sometimes Leaves Completely is the debut studio album by English singer and songwriter Lola Young. It was released on 26 May 2023 via Island Records.

Background

Young has stated that she doesn't consider the album as an "album"; instead, she sees it as a "project". Young suffers from schizoaffective disorder, which was a major inspiration for the lyrics on the album.

Reception

Young's voice on the album has been compared to Adele and Amy Winehouse, and her lyrics to those of Lily Allen. Kitty Empire of The Guardian claims that she also heard "a smidge of Kae Tempest" in Young's lyrics. Having a cyst on her vocal cords, Sophie Williams of NME noticed that this made Young sound rawer and deeper than before. According to Williams, Young goes beyond the "spacey atmospherics" of her earlier work on this album. She called the album "the overdue arrival of a completely credible new talent." Peter Vantyghem of De Standaard compared Young's "approach" to the debut album by Belgian soul singer Selah Sue.