Yungblud: 'Weird!'
The band's first album from Doncaster kicks off uneasily, with power and insecurity all at once Yungblud reached the top of his generation with his first mixtape, 21st Century Liability, in 2018, and its follow-up, The Underrated Youth EP (2019).
By Dimitris (Bari) Polyzois
He draws influences from emo, pop-punk, hip-hop. The eccentric Doncastrian refused Ritalin at a young age and branded himself the voice of suburban youth.
Yungblud: First steps
Dominic Richard Harrison was born on 5 August 1997, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, to parents Samantha Harrison and Justin Harrison. He has two younger sisters, Jemima Harrison and Isabella Harrison. His grandfather, Rick Harrison, performed with T. Rex in the 1970s. He studied at Arts Educational Schools in London and appeared in Emmerdale and The Lodge before launching his music career. He can play guitar, piano, drums and tambourine. Doctors put him on Ritalin at a young age, but his mother asked for it to be stopped, as it was affecting his personality.
Luckily, Dominic Harrison's restlessness came with empathy. Many of Yungblud's concerns were topical, touching on sexual fluidity and LGBTQ+ teen rights, and unpacking guns and sexual violence.
In May, he attended the Black Lives Matter protests in the US for several days.
Yungblud's first proper album is Weird!. It's exactly what its name says (aka Weird), given that the mainstream has been redefined. It moves across an ever-widening set of influences – Superdeadfriends owes a lot to Beastie Boys, and there's a Cure guitar nod on the record's opening track. Still, a deep disconnect remains between his sense of fun (see Cotton Candy) and a set of songs that harden around Harrison's low self-esteem.
Midway through the album, Love Song takes that feeling head-on, pointing to his estranged parents and lack of self-respect as reasons he finds relationships hard going. In the end, Harrison surely found common ground by touching on so many of Gen Z's themes.
