{"id":396586,"date":"2026-04-17T06:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/396586\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T06:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:59:17","slug":"life-lessons-with-yungblud-social-media-is-gonna-fry-your-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/396586\/","title":{"rendered":"Life lessons with Yungblud: ‘Social media is gonna fry your head’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We\u2019re just up the street from his dad\u2019s guitar shop, where he\u2019s been coming since he was five. He\u2019s energised, sipping sparkling water, occasionally fielding requests from his team, even if he admits he\u2019s \u201cfucking knackered\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fair enough, all things considered. In June last year, his fourth album Idols went to No 1, and 30,000 people attended Bludfest, the festival he curates. A month later, he played Black Sabbath\u2019s farewell show, Back to the Beginning<\/a> \u2013 his performance of Changes later earning him a Grammy. Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> \u2013 Harrison\u2019s friend and mentor \u2013 died just 17 days later.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yungblud and Ozzy Osbourne at Back to the Beginning. Image: Tom Pallant<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a loss he\u2019s still processing. But this year\u2019s looking big too. Days before a sold-out UK tour, he sits down with Big Issue to talk about what Ozzy\u2019s legacy means for his music, his new London venue, and why he only goes on Instagram two days a week.<\/p>\n

What was Back to the Beginning like? Were you nervous?<\/p>\n

That was the biggest David-and-Goliath moment of my life. If you\u2019re ever going to make a movie, that\u2019s definitely a big scene in it. It was like Live Aid or some shit. I was the only artist under 30. Six generations of rock musicians, and I\u2019m going out to honour the Boss, who I\u2019ve loved since I was two years old. Before I even knew what music was, he was like Batman to me.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not an idiot, I read the internet, I know what some people think. But I had a conversation with a guy in New York, about 55, and he said: \u201cI hated you before Back to the Beginning. Then you stood on stage, and I was like, oh my god, this kid has sung one of my favourite songs. He\u2019s just an Ozzy fan, just like me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

What would you say to Ozzy if you could talk to him now?<\/p>\n

Ozzy would say to me \u2013 and that\u2019s what Sharon has said \u2013 go, fuck the world, and make what you want to make. Don\u2019t be sidelined by the shit the internet says.<\/p>\n

Jack [Ozzy\u2019s son] told me that on the morning Ozzy passed, he was watching it [Yungblud\u2019s performance of Changes]. That is just insane. That whole family \u2013 they\u2019re just the greatest. For the amount of success and money that\u2019s come their way, they are so fucking real.<\/p>\n

\"\"With the Grammy he won for Changes in January. Image: Ariana Ruiz \/ PI via ZUMA Press Wire \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

I was in the Bahamas when he died. No signal. Came out for a cig after a four-hour stint in the studio, picked up my phone to like 80 messages. I thought my mum or dad had died. Then someone came in and was like, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry to hear about Ozzy\u201d. And I just knew. We wept for two hours.<\/p>\n

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How do you go from loving someone your whole life \u2013 since I was two years old, this guy taught me how to speak, then I got into music and I templated my life around Bowie<\/a> and Ozzy and Sid Vicious \u2013 and then he dies. How the fuck do you comprehend that?<\/p>\n

What kind of music are you trying to make? Do you want to disrupt the conventional idea of rock?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be confined to: you must play Download [festival] because you play metal, you must play Reading because you\u2019re a bit more pop. Fuck that. New artists aren\u2019t thinking like that. I am here to destroy every boundary and every medium placed upon a young British musician.<\/p>\n

The next album \u2013 it\u2019s pulling from disco, it\u2019s pulling from blues. It\u2019s sexy, putting the roll back into it. Watch when I put it out, people will say \u2018this ain\u2019t rock\u2019. I\u2019m like \u2013 go all the way back. It is.<\/p>\n

Yungblud hasn\u2019t always had an easy ride with critics. He\u2019s never had a hit single in the UK, and for a long time struggled to get booked at festivals or played on radio. Bludfest<\/a> \u2013 the festival he launched himself, drawing 30,000 people in its first year and expanding to Czechia this summer \u2013 grew from that frustration.<\/p>\n

\"\"Back to the Beginning. Image: Kazuyo Horie<\/p>\n

You have a really dedicated fanbase. But you also provoke quite a visceral hostility in some people. How do you deal with that?<\/p>\n

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I want to be loved. That\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever wanted. That\u2019s why I started this. But what Ozzy and Sharon and that family helped me understand is \u2013 people don\u2019t like Coca-Cola, people don\u2019t like chicken tenders, people don\u2019t like fish and chips, but those things are so themselves. I used to get eaten up by people saying my music\u2019s shit. Now I love it. People love me or they fucking hate me. Any expression I\u2019m invoking in people is the point of art.<\/p>\n

Did you miss the UK when you were in the States?<\/p>\n

I love the UK so much, but a lot of the UK press don\u2019t like me. A lot of BRIT Awards<\/a> don\u2019t like me. A lot of bookers don\u2019t like me. So I feel weird because I am so British. When you meet me, I\u2019m a northern lad who has a cup of tea and fish and chips and walks the dogs, you know? It\u2019s fucking hilarious but I\u2019m like a quintessentially English fucking fella, yeah, with a new school ideology, you know. Dog-walking, bitter-drinking.<\/p>\n

All you ever want is to be loved in your own country, but you almost have to go elsewhere for that to happen. Radio said no, labels said no, press said no. So I went to America, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia \u2013 and it was welcoming. But the people in my home country, that\u2019s where it\u2019s the biggest crowds. I love performing here.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image: Tom Pallant<\/p>\n

The West End\u2019s Denmark Street has long been a centre of music history. Legends like Elton John, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones recorded at studios here.<\/p>\n

But London\u2019s independent music venues are under threat; 45 shut down in 2025 alone, victims of noise complaints and soaring business rates.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Image: Tom Pallant<\/p>\n

Last year, Yungblud opened a new venue on Denmark Street<\/a>, along with a store and fan club on the street. You can get a \u00a32 coffee and play pool on a table painted with leopard print. It\u2019s where our interview is taking place.<\/p>\n

Tell me about this street, and about your new venue here.<\/p>\n

I grew up on this street. It\u2019s like the pinnacle of music for me. Elton John met Bernie Taupin here, you\u2019ve got the Sex Pistols<\/a>, Malcolm McLaren. My old man has Hanks [guitar shop]. So I\u2019ve been coming down here since I were, like, five years old.\u00a0 My uncles are still in there, so I go see them all the time.<\/p>\n

It was all independent music shops. But then a property developer started to gentrify the area \u2013 coffee shops popping up everywhere, all that shit. Then Philip O\u2019Ferrall [the executive behind the Denmark Street redevelopment] met me. Fair play \u2013 it takes people within corporate structures to have the bollocks to go, we\u2019re gonna let a bunch of young fucking reprobates into this building.<\/p>\n

We want people to come and have a place to belong, to exist and make friends. No judgement. A building in London where you ain\u2019t gonna get judged. The dream is couches, cinema rooms, art rooms. A physical place where people can hang out.<\/p>\n

Is London nightlife under threat?<\/p>\n

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My vibe is it\u2019s got to be Soho, because we can be fucking loud till four. When Soho was shit I was in Camden, then Shoreditch \u2013 now Shoreditch is becoming boring. So I\u2019m enjoying being in Soho, going to Bar Italia, Ronnie Scott\u2019s, the Toucan for a pint of Guinness. But I think that\u2019s a byproduct of this hub that\u2019s happening here. It always starts with music. Music is the essence of something that reflects culture.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Yungblud became the youngest ever guest editor of Big Issue<\/a>. The magazine has had a place in his life since his teens, when a vendor comforted him<\/a> when he was crying in Soho about an injury he thought would end his career.<\/p>\n

In a poem he wrote for the issue, he asked: \u201cThe big issue is endless \/ How do we solve the big issue? \u2026 we keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

You did our guest edit in 2022. Do you think the world has become more divided since then?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Objectively, on a public, global scale, they\u2019ve got a lot more divided. But my vibe is \u2013 how do I make a difference? That was what I was questioning in the poem.<\/p>\n

I look inward. I make my own world. I act local. Everything can be so daunting and scary, especially for a young person, because you feel like you\u2019ve got to change the world. But if you\u2019re so overwhelmed by the whole fucking spectrum you\u2019re forgetting that, to change, you\u2019ve got to put one foot in front of the other every fucking day, and then look back and go, holy shit, I just ran a mile. Do something local. Help at the fucking soup kitchen.<\/p>\n

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What do you think the state of the UK is like right now?<\/p>\n

The country is in complete disarray, and everyone\u2019s so divided \u2013 no matter what side of the fence you\u2019re on, everyone is very extreme right now. It\u2019s sad the amount of division going on. I\u2019ve been a Labour voter since I was old enough, and I\u2019m just like, what the fuck is going on?<\/p>\n

On the internet, no one has consequences for their words. You can create a fake account and spew crazy shit whenever you want.<\/p>\n

I am ultra fucking liberal and progressive. But since the beginning of my career I have said I am not here to tell you what to think. You are entitled to make up your own mind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s a big issue you\u2019re worried about right now?<\/p>\n

No one is present. We read 15 different opinions before we even have our breakfast. We get told who we should be, what to believe, who to vote for, before we\u2019ve had a fucking second to walk out the street, feel the air in our face, taste the coffee.<\/p>\n

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I do not go on Instagram<\/a>. I go on Instagram two days a week. I\u2019m not a hermit \u2013 but I don\u2019t want to get fed bullshit opinions. We\u2019re not supposed to be fed this much shit all day. It makes people stupid. Go to a museum. Because otherwise it\u2019s like \u2013 oh shit, this guy\u2019s gonna tell me about the Romans, and now this is who I should vote for, oh that\u2019s the Labour Party, oh there\u2019s the Tories, oh shit that\u2019s Donald Trump, oh shit that\u2019s fucking Michelle Obama. Within 10 fucking minutes I\u2019ve been told 15 things about what to think.<\/p>\n

\"\"Announcing Bludfest in Camden, 2024. Image: Cat Morley \/ SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

Would you ban social media if you could?<\/p>\n

Only go on it at lunchtime. Otherwise it\u2019s gonna fry your fucking head. Slow down, put your feet in some fucking grass. For an hour a day enter the internet, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s a dopamine hit, we\u2019re all junkies to it. And then have dinner with your mum or your mate and talk about what you learned today. One of my best mates is a farmer. I think his political ideas are fucking shit. But we\u2019re best mates.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the one thing you\u2019re looking forward to most this year?<\/p>\n

Probably getting back on stage. It\u2019s where everything makes sense.<\/p>\n

Yungblud manager Tommas Arnby: \u2018Every big act started in a small room somewhere\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The UK has a hugely impressive history of rock music \u2013 how can we ensure this legacy\u00a0continues into the future?\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The key is\u202fintent and\u202fconfidence in the genre,\u00a0supporting the next generation of rock stars and empowering their evolution. The music industry needs to start taking rock seriously (again) and understand that it can work within a subculture\u00a0as well as on a mainstream level.\u202fI think the genre became too self-entitled and stuck in the past but\u202fIt\u2019s\u00a0time for new young rock artists to be supported and to shine,\u00a0and we are already seeing it happen. There is some amazing new talent coming through! Rock feels exciting!!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can artists take back control when it comes to ticket pricing?\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes\u00a0they can. In fact,\u00a0artists and managers often have a lot more control over pricing than\u00a0most people think but it is also important to\u00a0take into account\u00a0that touring has become much more expensive in recent years,\u00a0which makes it hard for artists to sustain costs, even for some bigger tours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can artists also be instrumental in protecting independent music venues?\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think\u00a0in order to\u00a0truly make a difference in helping independent venues thrive, the live business, as well as artists and the public sector, need to work together. It starts by understanding how key independent promoters and venues are in helping the next generation of artists get off the ground and that every big act started in a small room somewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How much of an artist being successful in 2026 is down to musical talent? How much is down to entrepreneurship, fan\u00a0engagement\u00a0and other things outside the music?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Great talent\u00a0and the ability to write amazing songs and perform them in a way that moves other people is\u00a0absolutely still\u00a0the most important driver of sustainable success.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0funny how that is often forgotten about or gets overshadowed by other things such as driving fan engagement. If you can touch people through your music,\u00a0you can build a community that sticks and the business opportunities are more likely\u00a0to\u00a0present themselves as a result. Then that can be built\u00a0on in terms of further artist-driven projects, which will then be more sustainable and real. The most important thing in my experience, though, is never to take the relationship with your audience for granted and always find ways to over-deliver for them, starting by releasing more great music.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month Tommas Arnby was\u00a0recognised as International Music Manager of the Year at the MUSEXPO & A&R Worldwide Awards Gala\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yungblud is currently on an arena tour<\/a>. Idols II, featuring six new tracks, is available digitally<\/a> and will be released physically on 15 May. Yungblud\u2019s curated festival Bludfest<\/a> takes place in Czechia on 27 June. Tickets are on sale now<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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