'Ozzy Was My North Star' - Yungblud's Authenticity, Success + Connection With Rock Legends (Interview)

"I've been on such a wild journey since I was 19 years old — to be working with people that I had on my wall as a kid...it's just wild."

On Monday (Sept. 22), Yungblud joined Loudwire Nights to dive into everything that's happened in the last few months, from paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath at Back to the Beginning to being part of Aerosmith's first new music in 13 years.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"Honestly, I'm still pinching myself."

For many rock fans, their first introduction to Yungblud was courtesy of his transcendent cover of Sabbath's "Changes" at Back to the Beginning. For Yungblud, though, that was a culmination of a life-changing friendship he had with Ozzy that started with a music video.

"I've known Kelly [Osbourne] for years," he began to explain to host Chuck Armstrong.

"Me and Kelly really got on because we're quite loud, we're quite boisterous and we're quite naughty, so me and Kelly have known each other for years. And I remember I had an idea for 'The Funeral' that I was like, I want Kelly to run me over in a car and someone was like, 'Who was that,' and she would just say, 'I don't know, it's just some poser.'"

Unfortunately, Kelly wasn't able to make the video shoot work in her schedule — but she had an idea of two people who could fill in for her.

"She was like, 'Let me call my mum,'" Yungblud recalled.

"And she's like, 'I've just called my mum and my mum and dad are up for it.' I'm like, 'You are kidding me.'"

As he shared the story, it was clear there was still a bit of shock in Yungblud's voice.

"Ozzy was always really my North Star, you know what I mean," he said.

"So the fact that I was going to, one, get to meet him and chill with him [and] him being in my video was just mental."

Yungblud's Life-Changing Friendship With Ozzy and the Entire Osbourne Family

That moment of working with Ozzy for the music video for "The Funeral" was the first time that Yungblud met him — and it was the start of what would become one of his most significant friendships.

"We just sat for about an hour and a half and just laughed and laughed and laughed and honestly just really got on and we had the most fun day," Yungblud said.

"Because I've kind of loved him so much and I'm from the U.K. and my family is mental as well, we just got on and that was the start of a beautiful friendship."

Yungblud said that he owes the entire Osbourne family so much because of all the help and advice they've provided him over the years.

"They've been so helpful," he said, "in terms of how to navigate this crazy industry, how to navigate hate, how to navigate love, how to navigate releasing things, how to navigate my festival. They really have given me a lot of time and I'll never take that for granted."

And there's one piece of advice that Ozzy shared with Yungblud that continues to shape him to this day.

"The thing he said to me when he gave me his cross was, 'Never compromise, be yourself, they'll understand it later. Trust me.' That's what he said."

How Yungblud + Aerosmith Got Together to Make New Music

As fans now know, Yungblud's friendship and trust with Ozzy isn't the only relationship that he's grown with rock star veterans. Most recently, Yungblud shared the stage with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry at the MTV VMAs as they paid tribute to Ozzy — and now, Yungblud has collaborated with Aerosmith on their first new music in over a decade.

And it all started after he released his nine-minute song, "Hello Heaven, Hello," from his latest record, 2025's Idols.

"A lot of rock stars started reaching out to me, a lot of people were like, 'Wow, that took balls, we respect it,'" he said.

"I'm getting emails from Brian May and Joe Perry and I'm like, 'What? Wow.' I think my whole goal was to really attack classic rock on this album."

He said everyone was dissuading him from releasing a nine-minute song, but he knew he needed to — and after receiving support from guys like Perry, he had an idea.

"I was like, 'Would you guys as Aerosmith be up for potentially doing a remix version of the middle section of 'Hello''," he asked.

"And what that turned into was us all getting on the phone, immediately hitting it off and then arranging to meet in L.A."

Unbeknownst to the guys in Aerosmith, Yungblud had secretly reserved a studio across the street from where they were staying in Los Angeles, just in case.

"It's like a first date, you're either going home together or it's going to be a disaster."

Within 15 minutes of hanging out, he knew they'd be going home together.

"We got in the studio and 'My Only Angel' was written within 55 minutes," he said.

"I'm in a vocal booth with Steven Tyler singing this chorus, going like, 'What is going on right now,' and then we come into the mixing room with a board and we go like, 'Wow, we sound really, really good together.'"

READ MORE: The Last Thing That Ozzy Osbourne Told Tom Morello

Tyler told Yungblud that he hadn't met anyone who could hit the notes like he could and that turned into a sort of competition with each of them trying to top the other.

"This explosion of color was coming out."

While some fans may have thought Aerosmith and Yungblud's new EP, One More Time, came out of his and Tyler's interaction at Back to the Beginning, he was very happy to say that they had the songs recorded prior to July 5.

"No one knew it," he said.

"No one had a fucking clue. It was hilarious. That's why, honestly, there was like strictly no cameras backstage unless approved. But it was so funny, my photographer snuck a camera in and caught that moment before someone took it out of his hand: 'We've got a secret and nobody knows it.'"

What Else Did Yungblud Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How he and Aerosmith decided to re-record "Back In the Saddle" for One More Time: "I was like, we need something that is absolutely balls to the wall nuts to end this off. And Joe said that Billy, his Mrs. Billy Perry, had an idea. She's like, 'Why don't you cover 'Saddle,' and obviously, that is one of my favorite songs of all time. I'll listen to that before I go onstage."
• What it was like being part of Back to the Beginning: "The thing about it is, you don't get on that bill unless you're real. I think you don't get on that bill unless you're friends, friendly ... I was trying to pinch myself, what fever dream am I in right now?"
• Who else is on his list of collaborations: "I have dreams for everything. Obviously, every band on my wall like Metallica, like Slayer, everybody I saw at Download as a kid would be unbelievable. I think Velvet Revolver was such a massive influence to me. Scott [Weiland] was everything to me as a kid. I'm just kind of taking it as it comes really. It's got to be natural. Especially in rock music, you can't fucking lie. You can't fake this shit. That's why I love this genre so much. It's so real. I just want to see what comes and keep running. I think it's so exciting right now ... I really want to pour gasoline on this fire."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Yungblud joined Loudwire Nights on Monday, Sept. 22; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.