By Charlie Sawyer
Published Jun 14, 2025 at 09:00 AM
Reading time: 3 minutes
While Sabrina Carpenter has definitely faced criticism, the backlash Lola Young is currently experiencing says a lot about who society decides gets a pass when it comes to expressing sexual desire.
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No matter how far we think society has come, it often lets slip that it still has a massive problem with women being overtly sexual. Actually, scratch that. Society is perfectly fine with women expressing their sexuality, as long as they’re a size 6 and conform to Eurocentric beauty standards. But if you’re someone like Lola Young, an artist whose raunchy, bodacious persona shows as little interest in pleasing the male gaze as it does in supporting Reform UK, you’re probably going to draw a lot of criticism.
Young has recently faced a lot of criticism for her overtly sexual and graphic lyrics. And while it’s not to say that other artists haven’t faced similar pushback (we’ll get to you soon Miss Sabrina Carpenter), it’s become evident that people still have particular hang-ups about who is allowed to be sexy, and midsize and plus size women are being kept well and truly on the outs. Let’s delve into this a bit more, shall we?
Who is Lola Young?
Lola Young has become one of the most exciting British music artists in recent years, creating art that resonates with an entire generation of sexy misfits. The 24-year-old’s single ‘Messy’ spent four weeks at number one in the Official Singles Charts. Safe to say, people, including influencer icon Jake Shane and bestie Sofia Richie, love this girlie.
@octopusslover8 happy thanksgiving @Sofia Richie Grainge
And then we were gifted the genius that is ‘One Thing’, Young’s most recent single, released in May 2025. This song was immediately gobbled up by fans, with Gen Z women especially praising the singer for creating an anthem solely geared towards celebrating the idea of intense female sexual desire.
It’s a power move, with each line centering a strong narrative and reinforcing the very real fact that women are more than capable of being purely motivated by sex. Desire, want, and a lack of emotional attachment are not things sequestered to the male experience.
Female artists are regularly pressured to create songs and write lyrics with a double meaning. Sure, write about sex all you like, but make sure there’s a deeper layer there. It can never be just about that one pleasure.
One Thing by Lola Young is only her saying what 75% of women won’t say. As a freak, I love a sexual positive bop.
— Lyric (@lyricfaith000) June 1, 2025
And you’ve also got to think, would people have such strong opinions if Young fully conformed to society’s beauty standards?
i fear a lot of the lola young hate is just ppl not liking seeing chubby girls as sexual lets wake that up
— cam 😛⭐️ (@AllThingsCvnty) May 24, 2025
The reason you hate Lola Young is because she not skinny and exudes sexual confidence
— Crash Out Queen 👻 (@_BeanDarcy) May 28, 2025
As someone who’s personally struggled with trying to embrace their style while still feeling sexy in a bigger body, the insignificance Young places on a traditionally feminine aesthetic is insanely refreshing.
Sabrina Carpenter and Lola Young face criticism for their sexual lyrics
Now, when it comes to hyper-sexual lyrics, we’ve seen the same kind of criticism lobbed towards artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Tate McRae. There have been thousands of netizens on X who, especially during the beginning of Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour, took personal umbrage with the singer’s decision to express her sexuality onstage.
In so many of the users’ posts, it felt as though they were blaming Carpenter for being a bad role model for young girls—shaming her for the outfits she wore, dance moves she did, and lyrics she wrote.
I don’t think you guys really understand these systems you tweet about. it’s not like the goverment sees sabrina carpenter do that dance move and decides to make the patriarchy last longer
— strawberry in love 🎀 (@honeybunwife) March 20, 2025
I could spend two minutes on X and find dozens of comments from people insinuating that it’s a female artist’s duty to present themselves in a certain way in public in order to avoid negatively influencing the younger generations. It would take me a hell of a lot longer to find the same vitriol targeted towards male singers and rappers.
sorry to be the friend that’s too woke but this shit is so degrading to women and I hate that this is the box female artists are largely confined to
— Suki’s Mom 🔻 gazafunds.com (@zukosmadre) November 19, 2024
This isn’t talked about enough, people get butt hurt over Sabrina Carpenter’s nonsense outros because they’re “too sexual” then they go ahead and listen to male rappers who talk about women like their property and sex toys…
— ًnoahie ♡’s erin (@tattoossmallz) September 12, 2024
The double standards in pop music
While Sabrina Carpenter’s experience is totally valid, it is also interesting to see the discourse surrounding Lola Young. There have already been a number of girlies on TikTok who’ve called out the hypocrisy of people accepting Carpenter’s style of sex and yet dismissing and mocking Young’s.
@lydsjones eat it up😝😝😝 #lolayoung #onething #women #empowerment
@bethanlikesvinyl I’m clearly not shaming Sabrina Carpenter for presenting herself that way/dressing like that so nobody can say that I’m dragging her. I love how Sabrina dresses and styles herself. I know someone is going to find some way to pick holes in my argument but the hate that Lola Young gets is definitely part of a wider issue that shouldn’t be happening. I think she’s v cool and talented
@laurenjnicole ♬ One Thing – Lola Young
@kayholttt i have no joke had this on repeat, i’m obsessed 😭🤍🤍 #lolayoung #newmusic #opinion #trending #fyp
While it isn’t necessarily productive to compare these two women—they both have valid aesthetics and arguably both use their music to empower women—it is interesting to see how female sexual expression is only palatable in certain forms.
Long story short, no-one can win. Society will always find ways to force women into different boxes, encouraging them to exist only in parameters that compliment specific feminine moulds. However, as long as artists like Young exist, we will eventually bust through those walls, brick by brick.
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