Turns out the best way for Yungblud to endear himself is to…not put anything out for a bit. The vile number of ‘artists’ who’ve picked up his tryhard kiddie-punk shtick over the last few years has gone so beyond the pail that you’re almost Stockholm Syndromed into believing there was some charming novelty to him being among the first. There wasn’t, for the record. Typically, an earlier Yungblud performance was characterised by Dom Harrison’s voice as the personification of obnoxiousness, and a pandering attitude to his child followers that, at its worst, produced execrable junk like Parents.
The thing is, though, improvement was never off the table. That’s where the leeches and bottom-feeders go the most wrong, in treating Yungblud emulation like this single, unmoving practice. Even on his not-very-good-at-all days, the aptitude for flair and flexibility from Yungblud could still hold, and—especially in hindsight—some commendable moves came from it. It was often in collaborations with other artists (simultaneously showing off his other strongest suit of a bulging contacts list), but he was getting there on his own. A refined, trimmed-back pop-rock / alt-pop package made 2022’s self-titled album by the far the most likable Yungblud work. Add onto that how Bludfest has become a respectable entry in the UK festival calendar with its own incredibly diverse lineups, and Yungblud’s spotlight now projects a healthier glow, instead of blistering, painfully unavoidable heat.
To that end, Idols has a much different feel from your ‘usual’ Yungblud release. It’s still absolutely holds the standard of no-holds-barred moon-shooting, being the first half of a double album, introduced by a nine-minute opener and having the clout to get Florence Pugh in the video for its single Zombie. Beyond that, however, nothing here screams out that it’s a Yungblud album. And that’s a very good thing, you’ll find. Idols—an album that dives and somersaults into the expanses of Britpop and 2000s British indie—is almost a new start by design, no less for its commitment to bucking any remaining artifice, and having its form of a tentpole rock album replace it. Perhaps we’re not to that level yet, but it’s the most explicitly close that Yungblud has ever gotten.
It does bear talking about the shortcomings first, though, only because, even there, you feel how deep the redress has gone. In what might be the most welcome change of pace of all, Idols flaws are almost exclusively contained within itself, instead of shouldering its creator’s baggage. With that in mind, then, Hello, Heaven Hello feels like the idea of a nine-minute song came before what would actually comprise it, the moment where it starts circling being pretty definite. There’s also Monday Murder, a dozy impression of The 1975 where the skitters and twinkles are cremated under Yungblud’s droning voice. Yes, the man whose previous vocal default was the sound of himself being shredded feet-first is now underplaying too much.
On the whole, though, Yungblud’s vocal performance is the most agreeable he’s ever put to record on Idols. The twinges of old serve to remind who you’re still listening to (see the deliberate, pointedly enunciated “Pret-ty girl” on Fire), but it’s nowhere close to its past insufferability. Hell, with Lovesick’s gish-galloping Yungblud-isms (‘cause what else do you call them?), it’s a miracle from above that that is avoided. Instead, the refinement of the overall package finds its nucleus here, in Yungblud himself. He’s still not a very good singer, but in the way that neither Gallagher is, where any holes can be covered or plugged by the force of a big backdrop. It works really well for Zombie as a payoff to its emo wailing. As for War, your jaw might just crash through the floor at the notion of Yungblud realistically displaying some emotional weight and gravity.
‘Refinement’ was a word used earlier, but it can’t be understated how much mojo Idols squeezes out of such a concept. It’s a big album (and a focused one, at that) that cuts back on the terminal chaff that had Yungblud pinned down for years. All the while, the grandeur of his planetary ambitions hasn’t gone anywhere. When the closest names in orbit feature Oasis, Coldplay, Biffy Clyro and a whole slew of UK rock’s most recognisable names, how could it? Even if some hackles get raised by the old edge being stripped away—there’s an argument that this could be a little toothless, which…yeah, it’s not unfair—you’re still getting Yungblud’s grandest and most digestible set of songs yet. With the airy production, omnipresent strings and a tint of ‘best of British’ singer-songwriterdom that pushed Sam Fender into greatness on People Watching, its scope within the catalogue is unmatched.
In other words, it’s the kind of album you’d get from Yungblud after spending his three years between releases poring over a couple of decades’ worth of Q and Mojo back issues. Change, with its gregarious strings in constant swell, calls to mind Blur at their biggest, or even the symphonic pop of someone like Spiritualized. Less immediately pinpointable but still overflowing with the right vibe, the uncanny classic-rock riff and brash rockstar scream on Ghosts are deeply indebted to the ‘70s, its ‘90s recontextualisation, or both. Even Idols Pt. II, the piano interlude that hardly belts out its significance, has as its central line “You can’t go back to the start”, with a cadence not unlike Coldplay’s The Scientist to nail it down.
A sewn-together Britpop collage in spots, it may be, but Idols sure is an effective one. And saying that about Yungblud, as well, makes the resonance strike all the deeper. There was a time when his blighted influence on alternative music was genuinely loathsome, so to come around to this sophisticated, mature-skewing album with plenty of solid-to-outright-good moving parts is truly a nice outcome. Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s the best Yungblud album, perhaps even setting the stage for even better to come. It’s a markedly different sensation than was likely felt in the early days among the younger crowd, but it still stands. Either way, for the first time, Yungblud sticking around for more is entirely welcome.
For fans of: Oasis, Coldplay, Sam Fender
‘Idols’ by Yungblud is out now on Locomotion Entertainment / Capitol Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
