Yungblud - Idols

Beginning an album with a nine-minute-long song is quite the statement, but if anyone can be counted upon to deliver on that front, it’s Yungblud. As far as introductions go, ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’ is a pretty formidable one - gradually building towards sheer arena rock explosivity, it is constantly shifting and catapults you straight into the thick of ‘Idols’, the fourth album from Yungblud.

A departure from what might be expected of the Doncaster native, ‘Idols’ is an album carrying far more depth than any of his previous releases. Of course, there are moments that scream the Yungblud many have come to love - the clear-cut gobbiness that rears its head on the Britpop-evoking ‘Lovesick Lullaby’ is very much old-school Yungblud. Yet, there is a depth that feels entirely new.

It brings a new cinematicism to his music, which has always dabbled in melodrama but now revels in it more than ever. ‘Zombie’ is a highlight. Candid, tender and bubbling over with pain, it’s a moment where his vocals are at their strongest and the cracked-open nature of ‘Idols’ becomes inescapably clear. The orchestral heights of the track linger after the final seconds. ‘Change’, similarly, begins unassumingly stripped back, but builds to an operatic, immersive conclusion. The tracks are larger in scale and more ambitious than ever.

Whilst in conversation with the titular idols he adores, it feels like the most authentic version of Yungblud yet. It’s a different kind of bravado to that which echoes through his previous work, the kind that feels more celebratory and excited - ‘Ghosts’ feels like the most apt representation of that, with the final minute capturing that pure release. Confronting mortality and deciding to seize life harder as a result, it’s an electric moment in the album’s tracklist.

Grappling with masculinity, the weight of trauma, the past, present, future and everything in between, in those conversations, there seems to be a turning point for Yungblud. There is no denying that the ambitious heights of ‘Idols’ were a bold risk, but when the payoff is an album that feels like the most genuine version of Yungblud yet, it’s a risk worth taking. On ‘Idols’, Yungblud makes a statement of who he is, without any disguise or persona to hide behind.