Yungblud‘s recent single “Lovesick Lullaby” sent him on a search for uplifting emotions, or at the very least, ample distractions, to offset the dark clouds that sometimes trail behind him. During a recent visit to New York, the British rocker shared his guide to positive escapism, feeling good, and connecting with home even when he’s far away on the latest installment of Rolling Stone Recommends.
For Yungblud, you can’t go wrong with the classics. He carried this ideology in creating his forthcoming studio album Idols, out June 20. “I wanted to build a world that would allow you to go on an adventure that would question the fundamentals of humanity,” he said. “Time, change, life, death, and comprehend immortality. All I want to do is make people feel something. I actually think this is my least instant album.”
The feeling is also present in the music he’s been drawn to lately. He shouts out his “all-time greats,” David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, Nine Inch Nails, and more, but none more enthusiastically than Lady Gaga. “I would love to be a fly on the wall every time Gaga walks up to her team and goes, ‘Right, this is what we’re doing next,’” Yungblud said. “She’s a beautiful mind and a limitless imagination, you can tell. She’s just herself, isn’t she?”
The musician sees the same distinct originality in Florence Pugh, the fellow Brit who stars in the music video for his latest Idols single “Zombie” after previously making a cameo in Rachel Chinouriri’s viral “Never Need Me” video. “Florence Pugh, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting British artists in a long time,” he said. “I think she has this individuality that is not adherent to anyone else. She is completely legit and individual within her own style in her own time.”
When Yungblud wrote “Zombie,” he envisioned having someone like Pugh as its visual lead. “The song is so deep, so emotional, but so fundamentally British,” he said. “I was like mind blown watching her on set. And she’s just a legend. You can tell, man. She’s just sat in a pub on a Sunday with a pint of Guinness, just talking shit.”
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Yungblud has ended up in a few pubs himself — except, as more than a few viral videos have shown, he jumped behind the bar. “We’ve all been getting a bit fucking naughty. Everyone’s like, ‘Let’s do a shot!’ I’ve had like half a bottle of whisky in twenty minutes,” he said about his recent bartending excursions. “It started because I was a little bit lonely in London.” Pouring shots into people’s mouths and mixing up well drinks brought some good emotions to surface. “It’s given me a little bit of life and a bit of energy and a bit of reality,” Yungblud said.
But his side gigs haven’t been without some cheeky grafting. “People have been pretty inappropriate, I’m not going to lie to you,” he added. “Like, ‘Can I order you?’ I’m like, ‘That is not original.’ No, you fucking can’t. You can have a drink.” While those people brush up on their pickup lines with a few seasons of Love Island, Yungblud will be tuning into war movies and fantasy films. “I ain’t chilling — I ain’t sitting in my fucking tour bus watching Notting Hill,” he said. “I’m watching Saving Private Ryan at 10 in the morning.”
He’s down for anything from Ridley Scott and Guy Ritchie, or fantasy picks like Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter, even despite the franchise’s unfortunate permanent association with J.K. Rowling. “Shame the writer’s a twat,” Yungblud said. “It’s fucking true though, innit?”
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One thing he doesn’t agree with, however, is the relentless criticism of British cuisine. “I’m sick of the fucking myth that British food is shit. Especially Americans, everyone’s like ‘Ehhhh, British food.’ It’s amazing,” he said in passionate defense. “You have to think, the size of England is like the size of New York. It’s all locally sourced food. I would definitely go for a Sunday roast because it just hits the spot. You get beef, horseradish, gravy, carrots — sorry to the vegans, but duck fat potatoes, rock salt on them, gravy, red cabbage if you’re posh … a nice pint, it’ll sort you out. Especially when it’s raining, it’ll warm you up.”
No lovesick lullabies needed.
