Lourdes ‘Lola’ Leon starred on the cover of PAPER magazine’s January issue and her interview was candid, hilarious, and real. At the start of the interview, she opened up about her hatred for the “oversized blazer” look worn by people like Hailey Bieber. “All these b***es in these blazers three times their size, I can’t,” she said. Lola later explained her complicated relationship with social media that at times has left her feeling “s***ty” about herself.

©Indian Piorek.

Influencers can make a lot of money with their perfectly tailored Instagram grids and unboxing videos but Lola wants nothing to do with it. When asked what she wants to be known for she responded, “As long as I’m not known for anything horrible, I’m good … As long as I’m not known for being an influencer, I’m good. Anything else is fine.”

The blunt dancer explained that while she loves social media “as a tool,” she feels like it’s “turned into this horrible thing and you’re being fed lies and nonsense every day because it’s all an algorithm. You’re seeing things they want you to see so you become more and more of a consumer.”

Despite it being a “horrible vicious circle,” Lola appreciates when people use it in a funny way, “which is how I use it,” she said. “There are just a bunch of trolls online, but unfortunately people take it so seriously and it’s literally their life because it is a lot of people’s lives.” Lola clarified that she doesn’t want to talk down to people who make their coin on social media despite it being “such a joke” to her. “I have a complicated relationship with [social media] because a lot of times it makes me feel shitty about myself if this algorithm has made it so I’m only seeing people that look a certain way or live a certain lifestyle, and then I’m going to compare myself to those people,” the artist said.

“That’s not healthy for anyone. That’s definitely not healthy for young kids growing up, nonbinary kids. Half these social media presences are a complete lie. Obviously, nobody is documenting the pain and shiftiness they go through. Everyone wants to just show you their unboxing videos and skincare routines. And it’s like, girl there’s more to you than that,” Lola noted.

While Lola is unapologetically herself in anything she does she says she has a base layer of hate just because Madonna is her mom. “I have a base layer of hatred because so many people like to hate on my mom, so it’s obviously like I’m the spawn, I’m the oldest daughter, I’m going to see the tail end of that hate.” And with thousands of trolls ready to make fun of celebrities on the internet, they have a platform to leave mean comments they hope will eventually be seen. “So anything I do negative, it’s ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ Y’all are so unoriginal,” the 25-year-old said.