Indie pop artist Lola Young collapsed onstage at the All Things Go festival in New York City. The incident, reportedly caused by an unspecified medical issue, comes amidst mental health concerns. These come at an abrupt time in the breakout musician’s career, and calls the issue of celebrity mental health into question.
“Cancelling Everything”
A few days after the incident, Young took to Instagram to announce that she was taking a break from her career in order to focus on her mental well-being. This disrupts her world tour, set to start this month, that is now cancelled indefinitely.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Young take a step back from the spotlight recently. The night before her collapse, her manager Nick Shymansky cancelled her scheduled performance over mental health concerns.
Young has not kept her mental health a secret. When her hit song “Messy” was rising on the charts, she was checking into treatment for her substance abuse issues. She told The Guardian that addiction ”teaches you a lot,” acknowledging her struggles as a stepping stone for success.
Mental Health in the Spotlight
Since we have a constant window into celebrity lives via social media, we are more aware of their mental health crises. Whether or not we have the right to as outsiders, internet followers often find ourselves critiquing these incidents and weighing in on the cause and effect.
A breakdown that we’ve seen unfold clearly is that of Kanye West. We saw his custody dispute unfold online, followed by him becoming a supposed religious influencer. This has come to a head with his very clear statements aligning with the Nazi community. There’s debate on whether he is actually experiencing a mental health crisis or if he’s seeking attention, but either way, we could stand to see it taken offline.
Kanye West adds President Donald Trump, his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and others to his b+trayal list as he reveals he’s in a pa+n no one can fix pic.twitter.com/aLmm4JYPOn
— Instablog9ja (@instablog9ja) September 28, 2025
Lil Nas X recently had a run-in with the law after public indecency caused by a drug overdose. He is a key example of the pressure breakout artists like him and Young are under. Once you have an early single blow-up, you want to keep the momentum. This is a recipe for disaster, and self-care is very necessary.
Not all celebrities let their crises bubble over, however. Chappel Roan faced controversy for cancelling shows to care for her mental health. Many fans were frustrated that she presented her job as deeply stressful.
As a “regular person,” the life of a professional musician can feel glamorous compared to the daily grind. However, the truth is that the only way to prevent humiliating public breakdowns from these people is to allow them to rest as they see fit, and to avoid judging too hard.
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