“A love letter to life; in all it’s f*cking madness.”
British rockstar YUNGBLUD whose last two albums went to number one in the UK and broke into the Billboard Hot 100 is back has now released an ambitious new album. Announced with the release of his captivating new single ‘Lovesick Lullaby’, the artist has unveiled ‘Idols’ — the first half of a double album. Headphone in listening to ‘Lovesick Lullaby’ felt like I was back in Britain early 2000s. I can physically feel the 90’s oasis inspiration ringing in my ears. The song made me want to let loose and respectfully burst into a loud lovesick lullaby. Is this the type of feeling we can expect with ‘Idol’?
With a catalogue of over 6 billion global streams, YUNGBLUD reveals a daring new chapter, marking this his fourth studio album which is expected to contain 12-tracks. We can expect the songs from the album to be immersive, unfiltered and liberating as YUNGBLUD states “I wanted to make a project that didn’t focus on singles or anything else except feeling and world-building. A project with no limitations.” Now this is what I look for when it comes to music.
YUNBLUD is letting rid of the constraints and making something that aligns with him. Now this is what I wanna see. I need an album that gets me feeling 5 different emotions. I want to feel sad, excited, mad, love and joy. I feel like ‘Idols’ might just be that album.
YUNGBLUD first teased the new era with the release of ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’ back in March — a sprawling, nine-minute song that debuted as Jack Saunders’ Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1. It’s not just the length of the song that drew me in, but also the depth of the lyrics. The climax halfway through and the soothing guitar riffs that closes the song. It’s a side of YUNGBLUD we haven’t seen before. Is this era of his, one of identity, rebellion, and self-discovery? Well I think it might just be.
Recorded just miles from his hometown in Leeds, YUNGBLUD worked alongside longtime producer Matti Schwartz, with Bob Bradley contributing additional production and Adam Warrington on guitar. YUNGBLUD created an album that leans into emotional intensity and introspective storytelling and the release comes in multiple formats, including four exclusive vinyl editions that die-hard fans are already scrambling to collect.
True to its name, ‘Idols’ explores the theme of hero-worship — how we often look outward for identity, only to lose touch with ourselves in the process, something I can heavily relate to. Identity is something that is always growing and changing so I understand how it’s easy to be lost in search of one’s identity. YUNGBLUD explains that “We turn to others for an identity before turning to ourselves,” I always refer to iconic memes when I feel stuck or can’t express myself instead of just taking my time to find my own voice.
YUNGBLUD continues by saying “As we grow up, we lose our belief in magic and mystery… we compare ourselves to 15 different people before we’ve even had our breakfast.” I might not have had 15 different people who I compare myself to, but I can certainly remember having about 11. With this, all I can say is we need to once again believe in the magic and mystery. Let’s compare ourselves to our past self instead of 15 other people. Let’s believe that we can become our own ‘Idol’.
Photography by Tom Pallant
Written by Shalom Fred-Jatto
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