Spotlight: Yungblud + The Weird Time of Life Tour
☆ By Brady Moses ☆
AT FIRST BLUSH - YUNGBLUD IS NOTHING SHORT OF STRIKING. Sporting artfully smeared eye makeup and meticulously unkempt hair dyed candy apple red, the 23-year-old Brit speaks with a raspy drawl that betrays frequent nights spent howling tumultuous rock vocals for the low, low price of a good night’s sleep. His wardrobe defies categorization; in lieu hoodies and jeans, the singer opts for straightjackets, spiked collars, and an array of pleated skirts and form-fitting dresses. Call Yungblud what you want – playful, captivating, or avant-garde would all be apt choices – but he is certainly not shy. On the contrary, full and complete self-expression is the gospel that he preaches.
“Yungblud has always been about culture and making young people feel like they belong,” the singer tells us via a Zoom press conference hosted by 1824. It’s easy to believe; sitting on the floor of his new, unfurnished house, the singer greets the meeting with a bottle of Prosecco, expressing his deepest condolences that the pandemic has prevented him from sharing it with us. Even after arriving home late from a photoshoot that went over time, Yungblud is energetic and quick to compliment, effusively praising the most boisterous aspects of his guests’ individual styles.
Born Dominic Harrison in Doncaster, England, Yungblud himself has never felt comfortable within the bounds of whatever most of society would describe as normal. Diagnosed at a young age with ADHD, the singer has been open about his lifelong struggle with mental health, admitting to the Evening Standard in February 2020 that he has twice attempted suicide. Luckily, Yungblud has been able to leverage his experiences via his art as a means to celebrate those who have so often been told to hide themselves away. In fact, the artist credits his fans with much of the inspiration for the songs off of latest sophomore LP, weird!, saying “Ultimately, this record is my fan base’s words.”
“The difference between my first album and this record is, well, my first album is so angry. People had just been fuckin’ not understanding who I truly was my whole life, so that album is me being like ‘FUUUUUCK!! Be who you are!! Is there anybody out there that is fucking like me??’ And after that came out it was like ‘Holy fuck, man, there’s actually a whole lot of people out there who are fucking like me.’ This second album is about those people. It’s their stories.”
One of the singles off weird!, “Mars,” is inspired by a young transgender fan Yungblud met after one of his shows in Maryland. The singer’s vocal probes feelings of crippling isolation over a bed of aching guitars, transforming from a fragile murmur in the verse to an explosive lament of frustration as the drums thunder into the chorus, wherein Yungblud wails the refrain, “Is there any life on Mars?”
Challenging cultural norms, both directly and indirectly, is a longstanding practice at the core of rock music ethos. Early pioneers of the genre, such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, drew ire from much of mid-century America for using their platform to champion civil rights. David Bowie made waves by confirming his bisexuality in a 1976 interview with Playboy. Prince’s 1984 song “Darling Nikki” inspired the parental advisory sticker due to its explicit mention of masturbation. The list goes on. But in a year that saw both a ban on enrollment of transgender individuals in the US military and the first mention of transgender rights in a president-elect’s victory speech, Yungblud’s call for unity and acceptance rings especially true in a world divided.
For an artist who places such enormous emphasis on genuine connection with fans, 2020’s headline-defining issue in the COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique array of challenges when it comes to fostering fan engagement. With no live shows or meet-and-greets, one might expect coronavirus to have ground those efforts to a halt; but Yungblud indicates otherwise.
“It’s so funny bro. I feel more connected to my fanbase than ever right now, it’s kind of weird. Because we all of something to be connected about, just as much as we did before the fucking pandemic, even. Now it’s like that on crack. Everyone’s emotions are kind of doubled. I think with it, again, as I said earlier, I love having something to kick against. The idea that just because we can’t touch each other don’t mean we can’t feel each other, it really came to light when all my gigs were getting cancelled. I literally called Gav [his manager] up and said, ‘We need to do a live stream gig. As a state, it really amplified the conversation between me and my fan base. This live stream gig was going to be a gig in my bedroom with two cameras set up and me and my guitar player playing songs. But my fan base blew it up so much on the internet, the label was like, ‘this is fucking massive,’ and gave us a budget. Two days later, I’m in a TV studio with five cameras socially distanced and two celebrity guests doing fucking punk rock Jimmy Kimmel.”
In fact, virtual shows have become a massive part of Yungblud’s 2020 playbook. In the latter half of the year, the singer and his team announced the Weird Time of Life Tour, a virtual tour set to run during the two months leading up to the weird! release. Performing live from empty venues across the US and Europe, Yungblud has refused to let the pandemic hinder his efforts to uplift fans and celebrate the unconventional, streaming his message directly into the hearts of admirers worldwide.
It can be easy to get lost in your own misgivings, especially when the world seems to be splitting at the seams. Thankfully, Yungblud and his music bear an enduring message of hope for young people everywhere, reminding us that now is as important a time as ever to strive for kindness, practice empathy, and above all, embrace your weird!
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From Pavietra 🕊️ https://t.co/BXVgWlZud8 -
slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg
