YUNGBLUD talks upcoming album “weird!”, creative process, vulnerability, and MORE!
I ain’t Yungblud. Yungblud is we, Yungblud is us, Yungblud is a fucking culture of people who want to come together to belong somewhere.
Photo Credit: Tom Pallant
YUNGBLUD, born Dominic Richard Harrison, is a 23-year-old English singer-songwriter and actor. He is known for voicing what he feels are major concerns for his generation through music to ultimately unite and empower the youth of today.
His sophomore album titled “weird!” releases Friday, December 04. Available to stream here. The album will contain tracks like “Cotton Candy”, “Mars”, “Strawberry Lipstick” which focus on self-discovery in community and embracing being “weird”.
YUNGBLUD: an identity and community
YUNGBLUD is not only a stage name, but a community. It's about making young people feel like they have some place to belong, regardless of what they might be going through. He says, "YUNGBLUD is about humanity, about unity [...] And if I can bring people together with comics or podcasts or clothes… then, my job is done. You know what I mean?”
When asked about how the the pandemic affected him, he continues to connect his answer to community.
“Just because we can’t touch each other, doesn’t mean we can’t feel each other,"
He continues on, "And I want to feel that fucking energy again. It doesn’t matter if it’s over a computer [because] now we have something to be connected about”.
On the flip side of things, YUNGBLUD explains his creative process by saying that, “ [he's] gotta mix things that have already been done, together to create something that hasn’t been done yet.”
Photo Credit: Interscope Records
When asked about the secret formula to produce his music, YUNGBLUD replies
“There’s no secret ingredient. Tell the truth in the way that Amy Winehouse did it, in the way The Verve did it. Connect to people, person by person. Allow people to find each other through it. If you’re supposed to understand it, you will.”
Though there might not be a one size fits all formula, YUNGBLUD is influenced by his favorite artists. Some of these artists include: Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, Gerard Way, and David Bowie.
He listens to these each of these artists' unique sound and thinks, “How the fuck can I spin that and create a modern imitation of those people in my own way?”
Culturally speaking, YUNGBLUD also is influenced from his working class, industrial town. “I would compare where I grew up to somewhere like Detroit. There’s a pride of community. It taught me a sense of wanting to build a community [through music].”
The story behind the sophomore album, ‘weird!’
In his favorite pink socks, plopped on a mattress on the floor with a bottle in hand, YUNGBLUD talks weird! He explains, “It is the fanbase’s words.” The album serves as a collection of stories about the many people he has met over the course of his life. “I know that this album’s going to fucking resonate,” he says, earnestly. “I want this to be an album for the weirdest years of our lives, in terms of gender identity, sexuality, drugs, love, heartbreak, fucking everything.” The whole point of this album is ‘to meet ten million more people who feel like it’s not right to be who they are.’
Let’s see what YUNGBLUD has to say about the songs on weird!:
“Love Song”: “Love Song is my first fucking love song and I never sing about love. Oh, fuck! I’m singing about emotions now!” And having found a community of people who are like him has to do with it. It has made him comfortable enough to open up.
“Freakshow”: “That was a fucking bastard to finish. It has a million different sections. I think that is the kind of song that finishes the album.”
“Mars”: It is about a young trans-girl from Maryland who tries to explain to her parents that she isn’t their son, that she isn’t a boy. She manages to get the parents to his show and shows them people similar to her. Eventually, they accept her as a daughter. “It blew my mind that a community can change people’s perspectives and lives like that. Our generation, man, we are changing shit. We are fucking pushing things forward.” He goes on to explain that “being yourself is not a sin or anything to be ashamed about”.
That is what he wants the record to tell.
“Cotton Candy”: “I wanted the song to be flamboyant and sexually fluid. The song is about sex, sexual liberation, and sexual identity.”
Photo Credit: @yungblud via Instagram
“If you want to wear a skirt and be sexually fluid, be proud of it! If you don’t know what you are, be proud of it. That’s all I wanna fucking say!”
And how would YUNGBLUD’s younger self react to weird! ? To that he replies, “I wish I would’ve heard / wrote this two years ago, would’ve saved me a load of shit! Would’ve made a lot less mistakes, I think!”
How has his art changed because of the distress and struggle in our world today? “His art is a direct response to that. Especially now, a lot of people feel trapped, and it is all right to feel scared, confused, weird.
"Why the fuck do you wanna be like everyone else? ’Cause they’re taken.”
Getting vulnerable with YUNGBLUD and the YUNGBLUD podcast
Photo Credit: @yungblud via Instagram
YUNGBLUD says his idea of love came from his parents physically fighting. “Love and heartbreak hit you in the face like when someone kicks a football… and no one can prepare you for it.”
He adds on, “Nobody taught me how to love myself, so how am I supposed to love somebody else?”
YUNGBLUD created the self-titled podcast, the YUNGBLUD Podcast, in September this year. His intentions entail, “I wanted to make a podcast because I’m sick of talking about my point of view. I’ve said it, and this album will say it. I want to hear what they [fans] will say.” The YUNGBLUD Podcast and the musician provides a platform for his fans to express their emotions from anger to pain to positivity. It is a space for people who feel like they don’t belong, that have no place to go, the misfits, the outcasts.
Creating this community through YUNGBLUD is important to who he is as an artist. It is important for him to create this space for others and himself. Prior to becoming this artist we know as YUNGBLUD, he named some artists: Lady Gaga, Marilyn Manson, Oasis, Placebo, Blondie, New York Dolls, and Amy Winehouse. But it is not limited to these household names.
"Anyone that inspires people to be who the fuck they are, that’s it. That’s what rock and roll means to me – freedom.”
BONUS: YUNGBLUD's Five Fast Facts
1. His music has garnered over 1.4B streams worldwide with 427M total in U.S.
2. He loves cotton candy (hence the name of the song on his newest album).
3. Has performed to sold-out crowds in over 20 countries and played some of the world’s biggest festivals, including Austin City Limits, Life Is Beautiful, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Vans Warped Tour.
4. He has a dog named Freddie.
5. In 2019, released Live in Atlanta and the underrated youth EP, which debuted in the top 10 on the UK Official Albums chart and contained the hit single “Original Me” ft. Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.
