Lola Young says vaping has made breathing feel like a ‘chore’

Lola Young said breathing feels like a ‘chore’ and her lungs feel ‘battery powered’ in a TikTok video reported by BBC Newsbeat on 30 September 2026. The 25-year-old singer described symptoms she believes are linked to vaping, raising questions about how breathing difficulty can affect a performer. The published report does not establish a diagnosis or independently verify the cause of her symptoms.

‘Breathing feels like a chore, it feels like hard work, it feels like I should be paid for breathing,’ Young said in the video, according to BBC Newsbeat. Her description was emphatic and personal. It does not show how severe her symptoms are, how long they have lasted or what a medical assessment might find.

What Lola Young said about vaping

Young recalled someone telling her that she might begin to feel the effects of vaping when she was 25 or 26. She said she dismissed the warning at the time, but added: ‘The day has come.’ She also described her lungs as feeling like ‘one big battery’. The BBC account does not say how much Young vapes or for how long she has done so.

BBC Newsbeat reported that Young had previously said in videos that she ‘should quit’. Her latest comments suggested she was unlikely to stop soon, the outlet said. That is the BBC’s reading of her post, not a stated timetable or a confirmed decision about whether she will continue vaping.

Why breathing matters to a singer’s voice

Vocal coach Lizzii Hills told BBC Newsbeat that she does not advise artists to vape. Singing requires controlled inhalation and sustained, efficient exhalation, she said, so difficulty breathing can affect vocal technique. A performer may have to put in more effort to achieve a result that previously came more easily, according to Hills.

Hills said the lungs, airways and throat are connected to voice production, and that problems affecting breathing may affect performance. She also said vocal difficulties can be emotionally significant for artists. Those comments explain a potential concern for singers generally; Hills did not report examining Young or make a clinical assessment of her symptoms.

Young returned to the spotlight earlier in 2026 after a five-month hiatus following an onstage collapse, the BBC reported. That is background to her return as a performer. The cited reporting does not establish any connection between the collapse and vaping, or between the hiatus and the breathing problems she has now described.

What the health evidence does and does not show

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said in August that a review of 81 studies found links between vaping and poorer respiratory health among children and young people. The outcomes it described included coughing, wheezing, bronchitis symptoms and asthma exacerbations. These are findings about groups aged up to 19, not an assessment of Young, who is 25.

The college said the longer-term effects on children and young people remain uncertain and called for further research and monitoring. Its review provides context for concern about respiratory symptoms associated with vaping. It cannot establish why an individual adult is finding breathing difficult, or predict whether that person’s symptoms will continue.

The NHS says vaping is not completely harmless and that its long-term effects are not yet clear. It also says nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes, although it is not risk-free. That comparison matters particularly for smokers who switch completely from cigarettes to vaping; it should not be read as a finding that vaping poses no health risk.

Young has described how breathing feels to her, while Hills has explained why breathing difficulty may matter to a singer. Neither account supplies a diagnosis. The cited reporting leaves open the duration and severity of Young’s symptoms, her vaping history and whether she has sought medical advice.