Photo courtesy of Interscope Records
ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief
alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu
Yungblud’s new album is a heart-wrenching, moving and all-around emotional rollercoaster that somehow has some of the most upbeat melodies that I’ve heard.
YUNGBLUD was released on Sept. 2 and is a great musical experience the whole way through. The variety that he provided with these tracks while still being able to tie them together through his voice shows he’s willing to experiment while keeping consistency.
As the naming convention suggests this album is a deep dive into Yungblud’s life and internal struggles. It feels like this is him trying to show the scars that he’s earned with the beautiful decoration of the songs to try and make up for the trauma that lingers from these experiences.
He has a particular singing style that, while it does edge into the typical ‘indie-trilling’ now and again, is raw and makes it seem like you’re listening in to a live session. It’s mainly in the rasp of his vocals in melody changes and the moments where he is able to scream melodically.
This rougher way of singing was perfect for this album considering the incredibly depressing and emotional messages behind each song. This album tries to explain the slippery slope that comes with growing up and figuring out your identity and how easy it is to slip and find yourself in a pit of self-pity and rage.
He talks about his sexuality, masculinity, gender identity and even suicide in this album. This is obviously a way to show his true self through his craft and the quality of the music provided will pull you in, especially if you enjoy alternative pop punk-type beats.
Despite the dark themes covered, some of the songs actually have an upbeat tempo and harmonies that help the harsh messages go down easier. “The Funeral” and “Tissues” are the best examples of this and start the album off strong.
“Memories” is probably the best song on this album. It features Willow Smith and this is a collaboration that was a match made in heaven. The way Yungblud’s voice mixed with Willow’s in both melodies and tone was amazing.
Where Yungblud is emotional and melodic, Willow is powerful and angry and it makes you want to listen to it over and over to hear the change. Also, the grungy filters that were put onto the vocals of this song made a great contrast to the heavy acoustic guitars in the forefront of the chorus.
The way the songs flow from one to the next is interesting because it starts strong and hard-hitting in terms of tempos and intensity with “The Funeral”, singing about dancing at your own funeral. But then it feels like with every song that passes there’s more emphasis being put on his voice and its importance to the songs.
Ending with “Die For A Night” and “The Boy In The Black Dress” which are mixed so the lyrics and their message are the most important thing in the songs.
“Die For A Night” has barely any instrumentals and instead is an up close and personal look into his experience with suicidal thoughts. He uses mainly acoustics and guitars as well as background noise to pull you in and try to understand the haze that his mind fights with when having these terrible thoughts.
“The Boy In The Black Dress” deals with his own identity issues and how much he struggled internally to understand himself and the world around him. The lyrics describe snippets from a young boy’s life where his views on the world are challenged and how it weighed on him. Listening to it, it’s easy to remember just how poisonous masculinity can be.
This album shows you the deepest part of Yungblud’s struggles with himself. The way these songs are able to not only paint pictures of the pain he’s gone through but in a way that you can still sing along while driving is pretty great. If you have some pain you want to get out of, I highly recommend putting this on, there’s something for everyone to relate to.
