Music

MARVIN x YUNGBLUD: Growing up in public hasn’t been easy for YUNGBLUD. He’s processing it by embracing the spirit of rock and roll.

In early March at Flower Shop, a bar on New York’s Lower East Side, the 27-year-old singer and songwriter Yungblud hosted a listening party for his new double album Idols. When he came into the crowded bar to play the lead single “Hello Heaven Hello,” a nine-minute rock opera-esque epic, the air visibly shifted as he snaked his way through the crowd, wearing leather pants and a white cropped tank. 

My own preconceived notions of who he was as an artist did not line up with what he played for the eager crowd — the record is a complete rock and roll throwback. After telling the crowd that he feels like this album is going to allow him to arrive in a way he always wanted, he played the “Hello Heaven Hello” music video on a laptop while standing on the bar. He stayed perched there while other songs from Idols, including the recently released Brit pop banger “Lovesick Lullaby” played in the background. Surveying the crowd while throwing back cocktails, Yungblud (a.k.a Dominic Harrison) danced along to his own songs while on top of the bar, mouthing along to the words, clearly enjoying every minute of playing his new sound to a crowd for the first time. 

Later on, emboldened by too many cocktails, I fall in line behind the lanky influencers and model types all gunning for a scrap of attention from Yungblud. He not only fits the rock star mold, but has something rarer than being able to look the part — he has it. That aura is what had me and a crowd of people eagerly awaiting their turn to be held in his gaze. When my opportunity came, he made a reference to the rocker Tommy Gnosis, a character from the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, by grabbing a piece of his jet black locks and insinuating that his current hair is inspired by Michael Pitt’s character in the film. We also got into it over Todd Haynes’ queer glam rock classic film Velvet Goldmine. In a cab home, I drunkenly scrolled through his Instagram thinking about his seemingly easy ability to achieve intimacy with whoever is with him. 

The magnetic pull Yungblud possesses explains his massive popularity. Since the release of his first EP Yungblud in 2018, he’s released 3 studio albums, including 2022’s Yungblud, which reached number onw on the UK Album charts. He’s collaborated with Machine Gun Kelly, Willow Smith, and Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. He’s had rock royalty in his videos like Ozzy and Sharon Osborne and been romantically linked to Halsey and Jesse Jo Stark. The guy even has his own festival — the UK’s Bludfest — currently in its second year and happening right after part one of Idols is released. He’s built a sizable community doing this, and always makes sure it’s affordable for all to go to his shows. His fans remain dedicated to him, with one recent encounter in Amsterdam going viral. A fan thanked the singer for saving her life, to which Yungblud replied, “I didn’t save your life. Maybe the music was the soundtrack, but you saved your own life.”

Read the full feature in the MARVIN British Invasion Issue. Click HERE to purchase.