Dominic Richard Harrison (born 5 August 1997), known professionally asYungblud, is an English singer, songwriter and actor. In 2018, he released his debut EPYungblud, followed by his first full-length album21st Century Liability.[6] In 2019, he released his second EP,The Underrated Youth, and the following year, he released his second studio album,Weird!, which peaked at the top of theUK Albums Chart and reached number 75 on the USBillboard 200.[7] His third album, titledYungblud like his first EP, was released in 2022 and reached number 1 on the UK Album Charts, as well as number 45 on theBillboard 200 and number 7 on the USTop Rock Albums chart.[8][9]
Early life
Harrison was born on 5 August 1997, inDoncaster,South Yorkshire, to Samantha[10] and Justin Harrison.[11] He has two younger sisters, Jemima and Isobel.
Harrison was diagnosed withattention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at a young age which, due to a lack of appropriate support for his diagnosis, made him a troublesome student. He was suspended fromAckworth School[citation needed] after a dare from his friend to "moon" his mathematics teacher.[12] Harrison stated that he was an opinionated child and felt that his energetic nature was often misunderstood.[13]
Before beginning his music career, Harrison was an actor, appearing in the TV seriesEmmerdale andThe Lodge.[14][15]
2017–2018:Yungblud EP
On 7 April 2017, Harrison released his first single, "King Charles".[16] On 15 September 2017, he released "I Love You, Will You Marry Me", a song about a dark, modern-day love story.[17]
On 10 November 2017, he released "Tin Pan Boy", a song about the construction project onTin Pan Alley, a musical hotspot place in London.[18][19] On 19 January 2018, he released an EP,Yungblud (stylised in all capitals) which includes the three singles from earlier in the year.[19][20]
2018–2019:21st Century Liability andThe Underrated Youth
Yungblud performing at Rock in the Park in 2018
On 19 January 2018, he released "Polygraph Eyes" from the EP, a song about sexual assault against girls.[21] Speaking toHarper's Bazaar, he stated that "it needs to be spoken about from a male perspective, to dilute and smash the shit of this lad mentality that's been so vastly accepted."[22] From 12 to 30 March 2018, he supportedK.Flay on her "Everywhere Is Somewhere" tour.[23][24] On 14 March 2018, he released the music video for "Polygraph Eyes" toYouTube.[25]
On 6 July, Harrison released his first album,21st Century Liability.[26][27][28] In July 2018, he headed to the United States, hitting several tour dates a part ofVans Warped Tour.[13] On 10 August he released an EP, containing seven acoustic versions of songs from21st Century Liability, calledYungblud (Unplugged).[29] In August 2018, the music video for "Falling Skies" featuringCharlotte Lawrence was released from theseason 2 soundtrack ofNetflix's series13 Reasons Why. From 20 September 2018 to 20 April 2019 he toured for his debut album, with Arrested Youth joining his American dates andCarlie Hanson joining the UK and Europe dates.[30][31][32]
On 17 January 2019, he released the single "Loner".[33] On 14 February 2019, he released the single "11 Minutes" withHalsey andTravis Barker along with its music video.[34] Lyrically, the song is about a relationship that fails due to self-sabotage.[35] He released his first live albumYungblud (Live in Atlanta) 22 March 2019.[36]
From 3 May 2019 to 31 August 2019, he embarked on the Don't Wanna Be a Loner tour, including some festival dates.[37] "Parents" was the first single released fromThe Underrated Youth EP. It was released 24 May 2019 and described by Yungblud as a song about individualism.[38] "I Think I'm Okay" was released byMachine Gun Kelly, Harrison and Travis Barker on 7 June 2019.[39] On 26 July 2019, Yungblud was featured in the soundtrack forFast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw with a cover ofJim Croce's "Time in a Bottle".[40] On 29 July 2019, the single "Hope For the Underrated Youth" was premiered onBBC Radio 1 duringAnnie Mac's Future Sounds as Annie Mac's Hottest Record in the World.[41][42][43][44]
Harrison announced on 17 May 2019 he was creating a comic book entitled "Twisted Tales of the Ritalin Club" for release in October 2019.[47][48] He attendedMCM Comic Con on 25 October 2019 to promote the book.[49]
On 31 October 2019, the music video for "Die a Little" from the13 Reasons Why soundtrack was released.[50] The video was meant to take a stand for mental health awareness.[51]
In an interview withCapital FM,Blackbear revealed that he had a collaboration with Harrison andMarshmello.[52] The collaboration was revealed to be a song called "Tongue Tied" and was announced to be released 13 November.[53] "Tongue Tied" was released 13 November alongside the music video, starringJoey King, on YouTube.[54]
2019–2021:Weird!
He was nominated for fourNME awards: "Best British Solo Act", "Best Music Video" for "Original Me", "Best Solo Act in the World" and "Best Collaboration" also for "Original Me". He won "Best Music Video" for "Original Me".[55] On 4 March 2020, Harrison announced he cancelled his Asia tour due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[56] Coachella's organisers then announced that they postponed the music festival from April to October also due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[57] After his shows got cancelled, he came up with the Yungblud show, so he could give his fans a concert experience.[58]
On 22 April 2020, he released "Weird!".[59] On 16 July, "Strawberry Lipstick" was released.[60]Weird!, originally set to be released on 13 November 2020, was pushed back to 4 December 2020.[61]
On 9 January 2021, he participated in the online event "A Bowie Celebration: Just for One Day", coveringDavid Bowie's "Life on Mars?".[62] On 18 February 2021, the live cover was chosen as a soundtrack forNASA'sPerseverance rover landing onMars.[63]
2021–2022:Yungblud
On 19 August 2021, he released his single "Fleabag", it charted at number 78 in the UK.[64] In November 2021, it was announced that Yungblud would release his first short film based on his 2020 song "Mars". The film is a collaboration between Mercury Studios and Interscope Films and focuses on one of the singer's fans named Charlie Acaster, who was struggling to convince her parents that she is transgender.[65] On 11 March 2022, Yungblud released his single, "The Funeral", accompanied by the music video, released on YouTube, starringSharon Osbourne andOzzy Osbourne.[66] "Memories", featuring American singerWillow, was the second single, released 6 May 2022. The music video for the single was released on YouTube the same day, featuring an appearance fromYouTuber andTwitch streamerValkyrae.[67]
Harrison revealed the cover art and release date for his third studio album on 17 May, during a livestream.[68] "Don't Feel Like Feeling Sad Today" was the third single, released 29 June 2022.[69] "Tissues" was the fourth single, released 30 August 2022, the song notably samples "Close to Me" bythe Cure.[70] The third studio album,Yungblud, was released on 2 September 2022.[71]
Yungblud began teasing a new song and a new era on 30 May 2023, he sent fans letters in the mail that gave instructions for a location to go to for three different places: Los Angeles, London, and Rock am Ring Germany. Fans in those places would find a car spray painted with the word "Lowlife" on it, and were allowed to hear a snippet of the new song, "Lowlife".[73] "Lowlife" was released 7 June 2023.[74]
On 29 March 2024 Yungblud released "Abyss", a song that is used as the opening theme for theKaiju No. 8 anime series.[75]
In September 2021, Yungblud was among several singer-songwriters who expressed opposition to theTexas Heartbeat Act that bannedabortion in Texas afteraround six weeks of pregnancy, stating that, "The right to your body is yours and yours alone. It makes me sick and it makes me really disgusted that people sit there and they take away that choice and they take away that right."[79]
In August 2018, YUNGBLUD tweeted that he hasinsomnia.[86] In February 2020, he spoke to theEvening Standard and said that he had attempted suicide twice after going through a series of positive and negative events in his career.[87]
He was in a relationship with American singerHalsey for several months; she confirmed their break-up in October 2019.[90] Almost a year later, onJessie Ware'sTable Manners podcast, in November 2020, Yungblud said that they broke up because they worked better as friends.[91]
Harrison announced in June 2021 that he is dating American singer and fashion designerJesse Jo Stark.[92]
