YUNGBLUD on his upcoming self-titled album following show-stopping Glastonbury set: "Everything's been leading up to this moment"

"When they called me up and said ‘John Peel stage, 9 o’clock,’ it blew my mind," explains YUNGBLUD in typically-bouncy fashion. "What an honour to have been given that as my first Glastonbury slot."

Last weekend, YUNGBLUD made his first-ever appearance at the iconic UK festival; playing to 10,000 fans. And it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Ahead of the release of his third, self-titled album later this year, the 24-year-old feels everything's finally fallen into place.

The 'culture' YUNGBLUD's spent years creating is now a fully-formed expression of his entire ethos. In his own words, 'everything's been leading up to this moment.' 

MORE: YUNGBLUD's full Official Charts history so far

Chatting to Official Charts backstage at Glastonbury 2022, YUNGBLUD explains: "This is the most exciting time in the YUNGBLUD crew. We’re really becoming what I think we’re going to be remembered for.

"It feels like we’re settling in a magical place, it’s sick. Where we are right now feels right. When you get over your first two years in the industry, thinking ‘this is happening to us, this is crazy,' you get to a point where it feels right. It’s like breathing now."

As well as his unique brand of pop-punk, YUNGBLUD's equally known for his live shows these days; experiences providing fans the ultimate safe space to be their authentic selves. It's something he now prides himself on almost as much as his musical output.

"The formative years of anybody’s life are so important," he tells us. "They can take place at any age; at 50, at 62, 45. In the years when somebody decides ‘I’m ready to be who I want to be,’ if you don’t have somebody to support you, it can really f**k you up.

"I want YUNGBLUD to be a place where people can turn; somewhere you’re not just going to be accepted for who you are. Even that’s an outdated concept. Nobody wants to be accepted, f**k that. They want to be loved, celebrated and uplifted.

"That’s what I want YUNGBLUD to be. I’m excited about how we’re going to be remembered. Everybody else has hits, but we have culture. That’s exciting. It’s a way of life. I look at Slipknot, Bring Me the Horizon, Green Day, Lady Gaga, David Bowie…[those artists promoted] a way of life.

"As long as the culture around YUNGBLUD’s growing every day, I’m happy. It’s about a mindset, finding people and allowing people to be who they are.

"It’s all been leading up to this moment. Everything up to now was an unfiltered, uncensored expression of myself; my truth."

It's a truth we can expect to hear YUNGBLUD detail on his upcoming self-titled album, released September 2. The follow-up to 2020 Number 1 record Weird!, he promises this LP's his most vulnerable yet.

"This next album is about me," he says. "I think it’s about time for my community, and for the world, to hear about my childhood. My problems. Where everything lyric-wise was ‘we’ or ‘they’ or ‘her’ before – other people’s stories - it’s all ‘I’ now.

"You can put those words in your mouth too, though. I do think it’s my most relatable album yet, even though it’s the most personal.

"But then, I’m already working on album four. I’ve started that. That’ll come quickly afterwards.”

YUNGBLUD is released September 2 via Locomotion Records. Brand new track Don't Feel Like Feeling Sad Today is out now.

Article images: Tom Pallant.