YUNGBLUD — Self-Titled — Album Review
Alternative | Pop | Rock
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Ever since the days of when the single “LONER” was released back in the early days of 2019, I was a fan of YUNGBLUD. And while I have enjoyed various other projects, as you might expect, I feel that the artist’s newest album arguably had the most hype, and the greatest sense of importance surrounding it prior to its release.
After all, this newest album stands as a self-titled project, despite being YUNGBLUD’s third studio album. Pairing that with the simplistic self-portrait that makes for the album cover, and you have what, on the surface, looked to be the most introspective projects that YUNGBLUD had put out. And as somebody who thoroughly enjoyed the artist’s sophomore album Weird!, I was definitely excited to get into this one.
There were quite a few teaser tracks for this thing that only boosted my excitement towards this new album as well. Some great examples would be tracks like “The Funeral” and “Don’t Feel Like Feeling Sad Today”. Not only did they also point towards this self-titled album being a very introspective and personal piece, but they also brought the enjoyment factor forward musically as well.
With all of those pieces together, I was excited to get into this album. And it was fair to say, it was off to a brilliant start.
Fittingly kicking things off with the first teaser track to be released, the aforementioned “The Funeral”, followed up by a brilliantly upbeat track in the form of “Tissues”, I felt as if this album could potential top what came before.
But as I got further and further into the piece, I noticed less and less personality being injected into the project, and instead crammed the thing with what seemed like an increasing amount of accessible pop hits, which at times bordered on one-dimensional.
You may have noticed I didn’t mention “Memories” (another of the album’s teaser tracks) earlier, and that was because I feel that it stands as an example of what I am writing about in this paragraph. Well, a lot of brand new tracks gave me similar feelings to that track (even some of the ones that I enjoyed musically), and quickly developed that nagging worry that for a self-titled project, it doesn’t seem to engage me in a way that a project of this personal kind of calibur should have.
Also, where the bloody hell is “The Emperor” on this thing? I feel that a more motivational kind of track (like “The Emperor” very much was) would have been a very welcome addition musically on an album like this, where YUNGBLUD definitely seems to be leaning more towards the pop route. Something that had the more punky feel of YUNGBLUD’s previous material would’ve been a great way to break things up in an exciting way.
In short, YUNGBLUD’s self-titled record stood as one with a quickly dwindling sense of appeal. Not only did the weirdly alienating lack of personality make no sense at all, considering the intended purpose of this project. Putting that together with a couple of other point-deducting aspects, and you have an album that left a very sour taste in my mouth (or ears, for that matter).
Favourite Tracks: The Funeral | Tissues
Least Favourite Tracks: Memories | I Cry 2
Locomotion Recordings | Geffen Records
