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Yungblud has announced ‘Idols’ – the first part of his new double album. Check out the details below.
Set for release on June 20, the record will mark the fourth studio album from the Doncaster punk star – real name is Dominic Harrison. Visit here to pre-order.
It comes after months of him teasing a new record with fans, and recently tasters via self-reclaiming comeback track ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’ and unapologetic second single ‘Lovesick Lullaby’.
Recorded in Leeds, ‘Idols’ comes as the first part of a highly-anticipated double album, and is described as Yungblud’s “most ambitious” release to date. It will comprise 12 songs, and the decision to make the record near where he grew up in Yorkshire was intended limit distractions.
“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,” he explained, before adding how the release will explore the innate need for validation.
“We turn to others for an identity before turning to ourselves. Self-belief, self-reclamation, self-evolution and change,” he shared. “As we grow up, we lose our belief in magic and mystery. We begin to rationalise everything; our cage walls build up.”
“We compare ourselves to 15 different people before we’ve even had our breakfast,” he added, before describing the album as “a love letter to self-reclamation… to rock music… and to life; in all, it’s fucking madness.”
‘Idols’ sees Yungblud joined by guitarist Adam Warrington, and enlists both Matti Schwartz and Bob Bradley as producers. Check out album artwork above, and the full tracklist below.
1. ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’
2. ‘Idols Pt I’
3. ‘Lovesick Lullaby’
4. ‘Zombie’
5. ‘The Greatest Parade’
6. ‘Change’
7. ‘Monday Murder’
8. ‘Ghosts’
9. ‘Fire’
10. ‘War’
11. ‘Idols Pt II’
12. ‘Supermoon’
It was last year that Yungblud revealed to NME that the release was going to be structured as a “fucking bonkers” double record. Speaking to us in December, he also added that the project was going to centre “around the idea of self-love and self-reclamation that allows people to feel seen, and emit this light”.
“I made a fucking rock opera double album that has no limitations towards imagination,” he shared. “It’s a full-on rock album. I’ve experimented, I’ve gone through different places, and I’ve enjoyed it …[but] what did I want to do when I was nine years old? Make an album like that. It’s a homage to British rock ‘n’ roll music.”
‘Idols’ comes as the follow-up to his 2022 self-titled album, and in a separate interview last March, Harrison again teased that the project would take inspiration from Britpop icons. “It’s that thing in your stomach when you listen to Oasis, or The Verve, or Bowie, or Suede, or Madonna,” he told NME. “It makes me feel like I can get up today. It makes me feel like I’m invincible and that I can do anything – that’s what this new album sounds like.”
Taking to social media earlier this year, he echoed that he had “never felt more clear or been more proud to stand by anything” he had made.
While Yungblud has only officially shared ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’ and ‘Lovesick Lullaby’ so far, he did play some unreleased material from ‘Idols’ at an intimate gig at London’s Scala in March. Since then, he has also revealed that the forthcoming song ‘Zombie’ is about body dysmorphia, and celebrated the new material by pulling pints for fans at his favourite London pub The Hawley Arms.
This summer will see Harrison return for the second instalment of his own festival, Bludfest at Milton Keynes Bowl. He’ll headline the event, and be joined on the bill by Chase Atlantic, Denzel Curry, Blackbear and former NME Cover stars Rachel Chinouriri and Peach PRC. You can visit here for remaining tickets.
The post Yungblud announces part one of double album ‘Idols’: “A love letter to life – in all it’s fucking madness” appeared first on NME.
