By Cassidy Reyna
Yungblud’s second album “Weird!” is an experiment of sound that just went right.
Dominic Harrison, also known as Yungblud, has had a mix of alternative rock, pop-punk and rap in his music.
In his first album “21st Century Liability,” he expresses his anger and how he feels about society.
Harrison goes deeper into his feelings, making “Weird!” more alternative and pop-punk-focused lyric and sound-wise than the rap focus in his first album.
Harrison uses the album to express to his fanbase about staying true to themselves. It’s an ongoing theme throughout the album, along with touching on sensitive topics.
All of the tracks sound like they would be very fun to hear live. Harrison has said he looks forward to playing them, when conditions permit.
However, staying true to to one’s self is the main theme.
The album has 12 tracks in a 39-minute time frame.
It starts off with the song “Teresa.” The song begins slow and melodic then turns upbeat quickly.
It talks about a fan and her boyfriend who died. Harrison writes from the perspective of her late boyfriend watching over her. He also wrote it to represent himself and his fanbase looking out for each other.
The second track “Cotton Candy” is a song about sex. Harrison said that sex and sexuality are supposed to be freeing and that through it, people can find out true potentials.
The sound is reminiscent of the band The 1975 and the style they took in their last album “Notes on a Conditional Form.” It seems that this was his attempt at Matty Healy’s writing style and sound, and it’s safe to say he nailed it.
“Strawberry Lipstick” starts off strong and is the first single off of the album.
Harrison wrote the song about a toxic relationship where one of the partners is manipulative and abusive, but claiming to be in love.
Following after, “Mars” is one of the more serious tracks on the album.
While maintaining the alternative rock sound, the song depicts a girl struggling with acceptance. However, Harrison said that this song is about a transgender girl he met during the Vans Warped Tour. The girl’s family didn’t want to accept her, until she was able to bring them to one of his shows and they finally understood.
The next track brings the listener back a more upbeat sound with the song “superdeadfriends.” The song talks about drugs and how Harrison has lost friends to drugs. He’s not telling people to not do them, but do them responsibly.
“Love song” brings the listener back to a more mellow sound.
The song talks about how he used to perceive love as violent and negative. This was up until he met his ex-girlfriend Halsey and with her, he was able to see how love should really be.
Halfway through the album, the listener dives back into an upbeat sound with strong and touching lyrics. “God Save Me but Don’t Drown Me Out,” talks about remaining true to one’s personality despite any insecurities.
“Ice Cream Man” is one of the more fun tracks that Harrison wrote for the album. This is a song that just talks about him being British and that no matter what stereotypes, he remains himself.
Going onto the title track “Weird!” the song is about a confusing and weird time in a person’s life. Harrison thought that listeners could relate to this song because of how weird life is now due to COVID-19. Not only that but the song is also reminecent of The 1975’s song “Give Yourself a Try.”
“Charity” is another song that talks about staying true to a person’s personality, going on with the theme of remaining true to one’s self no matter what others say.
The penultimate song of the album, “It’s Quiet in Beverly Hills” is the only real acoustic song on the album. Harrison said the song is for the fans, saying how even though at one time the light of Beverly Hills got to him, he still loves his fans.
The album ends with the song “The Freak Show.” He said that he wanted this to be his own “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Jesus of Suburbia,” where he has different tone changes and keeps the track fun. However, staying true to the theme of sending a message in the song to his fans.
He ends the song with the lyrics “Times will change and you might break/But we’ll go on, we’ll go on, I believe it/ We’ll go on, we’ll go on, I believe it.”
“Weird!” is an album that came out so much better than anticipated.The album puts Yungblud on the map and into the pop-punk alternative scene, showing fans and many other listeners what to expect in coming years.