Singer Lola Young played her first headline show for five months in London on Wednesday after taking a break to "work on myself" following an on-stage collapse last September, and showed she can fulfil her pledge to come back stronger.
As Young's anthem Messy blew up as a massive global hit over the past 18 months, for her, a messy lifestyle wasn't just the stuff of song lyrics.
She twice went into treatment for cocaine dependency, according to a New York Times profile last summer, and told the Guardian that addiction had dogged her for "a long time".
Meanwhile, she has struggled with her mental health, having been diagnosed as a teenager with schizoaffective disorder and ADHD.
In September, things reached breaking point once more. Shortly after telling a festival crowd in New York she said she'd had a "tricky couple of days", she dropped her microphone, collapsed backwards and had to be helped off stage.
A few days later, she cancelled all her shows "for the foreseeable future".
"I really hope you'll give me a second chance once I've had some time to work on myself and come back stronger," she posted in a message to fans at the time.
Her absence hasn't made a major dent in her career trajectory.
Messy was recently certified as the most popular song of 2025 by a British artist, with more than a billion streams around the world.
Young returned to the spotlight in January to pick up the Grammy Award for best pop solo performance (and perform at the ceremony), and she won the breakthrough prize at the Brit Awards last weekend.
Now, she has made her full live comeback at the London Palladium, before a trip to perform at Sir Elton John's Oscars party and play a headline concert in LA later this month.
"So, I'm back!"
the 25-year-old told the London crowd, who responded with adulation.
She didn't say any more about where she's been - or whether, after being messy, she's now clean.
Young began alone on stage, playing solo piano on Bad Game (3AM) and Spiders, with the supportive audience accompanying her with whistles, cheers and cries of "Go on Lola!" as she hit soaring vocals.
She swapped the piano for an acoustic guitar for Walk All Over You, before being joined by a pianist for Why Do I Feel Better When I Hurt You?, then a guitarist for Sad Sob Story!
Her band grew to full size when three more musicians arrived, and a tentative start turned into a triumphant night, defined by composure rather than chaos.
The runaway success of Messy may have eclipsed her other songs, but she shouldn't be seen as a one-hit wonder. The crowd responded with increasing fervour as she worked her way through favourites such as Conceited, D£aler, One Thing, You Noticed - and, finally, the hit.
"This is a song that's changed my life,"
she told the crowd. "You continue to change mine every day so thank you for that."
Given Messy's success, it's puzzling that her three excellent albums have never quite taken off too.
Her brilliant pop songwriting is coupled with a chafing lyrical honesty - teetering on the knife-edge of desperation and defiance - which is what makes her such a compelling artist. But perhaps it also makes for uneasy listening when compared with smoother singers whose albums have been bigger hits, like Olivia Dean.
There's no doubt that Young connects deeply with a devoted fanbase, however.
Wednesday's show was in front of a 2,300-strong sell-out crowd at the historic Palladium, and she'll probably be filling bigger venues from now on - if she can continue the work that's got her back on track.