The new track arrives as the London-based singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist continues a run of music centred on healing, hope and togetherness. Following the blissful nostalgia of A Summer Long Ago, which received Radio 2 support, When The World’s On Fire turns its attention towards the present, offering an understated but emotionally direct reminder of the importance of standing together when the world feels increasingly divided.

Jake Isaac

Jake Isaac (Charlie Thornton)

Built around a warm, restrained groove, Jake’s characteristically husky vocal gives the song its emotional weight, while the lyrics focus on the value of remaining close to the people who matter. Its message is encapsulated in the line: “If you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far stick together, don’t let go.”

For Isaac, the song is deliberately rooted in the realities of the world around him. “I wanted to touch on things in the present,” he explains. “It would be foolish to not give a nod to the temperature of the world because it feels like we’re on the brink of something, so highlighting human contact, human emotion, and championing it in the time of AI and hidden agendas coming to light felt important.”

Written and produced entirely by Isaac, When The World’s On Fire features Aaron Childs on vocals and guitar. Although the pair come from opposite sides of the Atlantic, their shared musical foundations make the collaboration a natural one. Both artists grew up surrounded by music. Isaac’s father is a renowned reverend, meaning gospel music was an integral part of his upbringing, while Childs is the son of acclaimed composer and musician Billy Childs. Both have subsequently developed contemporary approaches to soul while retaining a connection to its traditional emotional directness. They also share a key influence in Bill Withers, whose combination of understated grooves, conversational songwriting and profound emotional clarity can be felt in the track’s approach.

Childs takes the second verse, his lighter vocal tone providing a contrast to Isaac’s huskier delivery. His guitar work similarly avoids crowding the arrangement, instead adding spacious melodic touches that reinforce the song’s subtle groove. “When Jake sent me When The World’s On Fire and asked if I’d want to sing on it I felt my whole day get brighter,” says Childs. “There is a quiet urgency in both the music and Jake’s vocal delivery that I noticed when I first listened through.”

He adds: “The groove drives the song forward in a subtle way while the lyrics inspire positivity and highlight the importance of being there for someone even when times feel tough.”

For Childs, the appeal of the collaboration lies in the way Isaac manages to communicate vulnerability without losing the song’s sense of optimism. “I felt like Jake found a unique way of expressing vulnerability, kindness, and connectivity through this song and I couldn’t wait to align with those sentiments while singing verse two,” he says. “I’m grateful to be a part of such a wonderful release by him.”

The single arrives just days before Isaac takes to the stage for a special stripped-back headline performance at St. Pancras Old Church in London on 10th September. The show is already sold out, making it a particularly intimate setting for the new material. The London performance forms part of a short run of European dates, with Isaac also set to headline Zurich’s X-TRA Musikcafe on 8th September and Lucerne’s Konzerthaus Schüür on 9th September.

The shows come at an important point in Isaac’s career. Before establishing himself as a solo artist, he became an in-demand collaborator, working as a songwriter, drummer and musical director with artists including Duffy, Gabrielle and Cynthia Erivo. Those experiences helped shape his own approach to music, while a period working in record-label marketing gave him a different perspective on the industry.

Rather than chasing numbers, Isaac became increasingly determined to make music that could inspire genuine devotion by addressing subjects that mattered to him. Early milestones included the patronage of Sir Elton John and a memorable appearance on Glastonbury’s Other Stage. His music has since increasingly drawn on the gospel foundations of his upbringing, as well as his spirituality, family and personal experiences.

Those themes came together particularly strongly on his 2024 album Benjamin, which marked a deeper exploration of his roots and the values that continue to inform his songwriting. The record ushered in a new chapter for Isaac, earning widespread acclaim and multiple Radio 2 playlist appearances.

When The World’s On Fire continues that trajectory while bringing the focus firmly into the present. Its concerns may be serious, but Isaac resists the temptation to turn the song into a purely bleak reflection on the state of the world. Instead, he offers connection as an antidote — a reminder that compassion, vulnerability and simply being there for one another remain powerful acts in themselves.

With Aaron Childs adding another dimension to the song’s warm, understated sound, When The World’s On Fire finds Isaac using soul music for what it has always done best: taking complicated emotions and turning them into something immediate, human and shared.

Upcoming UK Tour Date:

SEPTEMBER
10th – London, St. Pancras Old Church

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LØLØ @ Electric Ballroom

LØLØ @ Electric Ballroom (Kalpesh Patel)

Following support slots from Sydney Sherrill and 22-year-old Texan artist Ella Red, Toronto-born singer-songwriter Lauren Mandel — better known as LØLØ — transforms the Electric Ballroom into a full-blown pop-punk therapy session packed with emotional confessionals, explosive singalongs and enough confetti to coat half of Camden.

The theme for the evening is established before Mandel even appears. Wizard Of Oz-esque fairytale music drifts through the PA while LØLØ’s band emerge in silhouette. Then comes the first of several pre-recorded “diary entries” that soundtrack the evening: “Dear diary, today is May 7th and I’m in London. It’s the biggest show on the tour and London always has the loudest crowds.”

Seconds later, Mandel storms onstage and straight into the devil wears converse, opening the set with pure chaotic energy. The audience scream every word back immediately while confetti cannons erupt following the song’s bridge, showering the crowd in white paper bursts.

“Hellooooooo Londaaaaaan!” she screams as 007 crashes in, Mandel pacing from side to side of the stage before climbing the risers positioned at either end to whip up the crowd further. “I’m LØLØ and I’d like to officially welcome you to: god forbid a girl goes onboard tour,” she beams before launching into god forbid a girl spits out her feelings!. “We’re gonna have so much fun tonight. On my last tour, London was the best show and I can already tell that this is gonna be the best show, am I right?”

The new album forms the backbone of the night, but what elevates the performance beyond standard pop-punk theatrics is Mandel’s openness. Between songs, she repeatedly returns to the diary motif, framing the evening as one giant emotional overshare shared between artist and audience.

“This is all especially really crazy because, I used to write in a diary all the time and then I’d rip it up into little pieces because I was so scared of anybody learning or knowing my innermost, deepest, darkest thoughts,” she explains. “And now, I tell everybody my most innermost, deepest, darkest thoughts, thanks to you guys.”

“Writing this album was a very messy, very chaotic, all over the place, emotional. So, I want tonight to be a celebration of that messiness, ok? Let’s get messy London!”

That messy energy fuels THE FLOOR IS LAVA!! before the bubblegum bounce of debbie downer turns the Ballroom into a full-scale pogo party. Mid-song, Mandel suddenly pauses with a revelation: “I just realised something, you can’t have a cheerleading team without pom-poms and a captain,” before inviting a fan onstage to fill the role.

The diary entries continue throughout the night, adding humour and theatricality between songs. Before me with no shirt on, LØLØ temporarily disappears backstage while another pre-recorded monologue plays overhead. “I sent him a picture of me with no shirt on. He still hasn’t replied and it’s been like, 27 seconds,” her voice announces dramatically. Returning with an acoustic guitar, she asks the audience: “London, has anyone here sent a sexy picture before?” before delivering the vulnerable ballad to a sea of raised phone lights.

Elsewhere, the punisher lands with arena-sized ambition while faceplant cleverly incorporates lyrics from The Killers’ Mr. Brightside after an orchestral tease of Over The Rainbow plays across the venue. “I wrote this about somebody I was obsessed with who also made me very mentally ill, even more than I already am, which says a lot,” she jokes ahead of u turn me on (but u give me depression), the audience roaring in appreciation at the brutally honest introduction.

Humour remains one of Mandel’s strongest weapons. Introducing 2 of us, she laughs: “So I once got my heart broken by a man, and he fit into tighter jeans than me! How is that fair?” while omg arrives as one of the set’s punchiest moments. At one point, the 28-year-old attempts an English accent to notably muted responses from the crowd, quickly abandoning the bit before grinning: “London, you really have a special place in my heart because you really fucking show up for me! And that’s why the London show gets confetti.”

“How are you guys liking the album so far?” she later asks. “I know I didn’t give you much time to learn it, I mean it’s only two weeks old. So thank you for already knowing some of the words, or all of the words for some of you.”

One of the evening’s emotional peaks arrives with lobotomy & u. “It’s about being so heartbroken that you wish that you could literally go to the doctor and get your brain completely wiped,” she explains, encouraging the audience to sway their phone lights as the room glows softly around her. Then comes a sharp tonal shift as the drum intro to Nirvana’s Scentless Apprentice barrels into 2021 fan favourite death wish for what LØLØ calls the “OG fans”.

“I consider myself to be one of the queens of delu-lu,” she jokes before introducing delusional darling. “Sometimes it’s just easier, and a lot more fun, and this song is about ignoring red flags … no … ignoring every red flag that there ever was.” Support act Ella Red joins her onstage for the track, both singers throwing choreographed hair tosses around the stage. “She’s so cute, and so scary, right?” Mandel laughs afterwards.

LØLØ @ Electric Ballroom

LØLØ @ Electric Ballroom (Kalpesh Patel)

The crowd are then tasked with choosing between hurt less and Lonely & Pathetic, screaming for their preferred choice until hurt less narrowly wins out. DON’T! transforms the Ballroom into a spoken-word chant-along before dumbest girl in the world closes the main set in chaotic fashion, streamers exploding during the guitar solo and promptly getting tangled in the venue lighting rig overhead. “I guess that wasn’t a good idea?” Mandel later shrugs.

Returning alone for the encore following another diary-entry interlude, she strips things back for an acoustic performance of wish i was a robot, seamlessly weaving Radiohead’s Creep into the arrangement. “Is it finally time, that moment we’ve all been waiting for, to sing about our exes burning in hell?” she teases before exploding into hot girls in hell. The audience scream every lyric back with near-religious intensity as the track closes the night in triumphant fashion.

For an artist whose songs revolve around anxiety, heartbreak and emotional spiralling, LØLØ somehow turns vulnerability into something joyous. Tonight at Camden’s Electric Ballroom, Lauren Mandel proves herself far more than another viral pop-punk voice, delivering a performance bursting with charisma, honesty and genuine connection. Equal parts catharsis, comedy and communal singalong, this feels like the kind of show fans will one day brag about witnessing before the rooms inevitably become much bigger.

Live review & photography of LØLØ @ Electric Ballroom, London by Kalpesh Patel on 7h May 2026.

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