Yungblud talked to ghosts while making ‘Idols’.
When the 27-year-old star’s American label heard some of the songs that feature on his upcoming album, which is a melting pot of Britpop, classic rock, ballads, and even has orchestras, they didn’t get it and tried to dissuade him.
Unfazed, the ‘Fleabag’ rocker decided to remind himself of his roots and ended up recording the record in a “haunted” converted Tetley brewery in Leeds, not far from where he grew up in Doncaster, in the north of England.
Speaking to Louder about the record, Yungblud – whose real name is Dominic Harrison – said: “I like the ghosts. I talk to the ghosts. It was, like, ‘This f****** feels right.’”
On a serious note, he explained the purpose of the location: “I needed to be in the north.
“Timothy Taylor’s ale and my best mates and the smell you get in northern England when the rain bounces off the gravel because the roads haven’t been tarmacked properly for years. I needed all that just to be, like: ‘Who the f*** are you, man, as a human?’, without anybody else’s opinion, good or bad.”
Yungblud isn’t chasing hits with ‘Idols’, instead, he wants a “shot at the big boys’ table”.
He told the publication: “It’s the most ambitious I’ve ever been.
I went there with this: ‘I’m going to put everything I’ve got into this shot at doing something extraordinary.’ Let’s make a double album in two parts that references Dark Side Of The Moon [Pink Floyd] or Rumours [Fleetwood Mac] or A Night At The Opera [Queen], and has an idea and a through-line and a story, as opposed to ‘how many songs we can get in the f****** Top 10.’ Because why the f*** not? Let me at least try. Let me have a shot at the big boys’ table.”
The ambitious project comes in two parts, with ‘Idols’ part one set for release on June 20.