EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Yungblud Has Taken Over

Following His Gut, Every Step of the Way2025 marked a life-changing year for Yungblud. From capturing the world's attention with his tribute to Black Sabbath at Back to the Beginning to collaborating with Aerosmith on their first new music in over a decade, the young artist is poised to climb even more mountains in the new year — more summits, bigger heights.

Days after playing one of the most talked about holiday concerts of the year — sharing the stage with Eddie Vedder, Bruno Mars, Slash and several other beloved artists — Yungblud found himself back home in the U.K.

Though, he won't be there for long.

On Jan. 10, his Idols world tour continues as he hits the road in Australia. Not long after those shows, he'll find out if he sweeps the Rock category at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.

Everything Yungblud experienced in 2025, and everything ahead in 2026, rests largely on the work he poured into his fourth studio album, Idols.

"I think it was ultimately the biggest risk I ever took," he told Loudwire Nights' Chuck Armstrong.

"I feel like the first iteration of what you knew me as Yungblud was over, so I really had to block out the world and make this album ... For it to have been received so beautifully by the world when it was such a risk and such a different turn, you know for me, I think was just incredible."

Yungblud said he remains proud of Idols and finds himself listening to it to this day.

"This is a real adventure and I think, for me, I really just wanted to go there orchestrally, turn the guitars up, turn the fucking drums up, lengthen the songs if I wanted to," he shared.

"I'd always been deterred. Everyone in music was turning guitars down or EQing the drums to shit or making songs two-and-a-half minutes and I was just like, 'If we can go the other way, that will also work.'"

He trusted that if there was a crowd that consumed the music he just described, there would be an army of fans ready for the adventure of Idols.

He was right.

Idols topped several charts across the globe, including debuting at No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Charts, selling more than 25,000 copies in that first week. The record has also been nominated for Best Rock Album at next year's Grammy Awards.

"I wanted to approach songs how my favorite artists approach songs," Yungblud admitted.

"When you listen to [Led Zeppelin's] Houses of the Holy or you listen to [The Beach Boys'] Pet Sounds or you listen to [Pink Floyd's] Dark Side of the Moon or you listen to [Queen's] A Night at the Opera or you listen to [U2's] Achtung Baby, these albums, they were such turning points for the artists because they had no limitations whatsoever and an innate sense of freedom."

"I wanted to approach songs how my favorite artists approach songs ... If people don't accept this, then what's the fucking point?"

He considered those particular albums as life or death for the artists — something he resonated with as he created Idols.

"If people don't accept this, then what's the fucking point?"

Yungblud's Idols Comes From His Soul

Yungblud is very aware of the opinions people spew on the internet about him and his music. For him, it's nothing new.

"On my third album, a lot of people had an opinion about me," he said.

"A lot of people still have an opinion about me, but when you are a young kid and you're trying to appease it and you make an album from you head, when people don't like you, it hurts."

With Idols, it seems as though nothing can hurt Yungblud.

"When you make an album from you heart and your soul and people don't like it or people don't like you or they don't believe you, you can't really do much about it because it came out of you, came out of your chest," he says, candidly. "Just as much as the oxygen you breathe or just as much as me fucking telling me mum that I love her, you know what I'm saying? I meant it that much. I meant it that much."

Giving New Life to 'Zombie' With the Help of One of Yungblud's Idols

With the Idols world tour having kicked off in 2025 and continuing into 2026 (including an instantly sold out North American jaunt), there's no denying Yungblud's latest album has a lot of life ahead — and that is especially true for "Zombie," nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song this year.

A deeply personal song, "Zombie" is inspired by his grandmother and the reality of deteriorating in this world. While the album version of the song has a bit of a lighter feel to it, Yungblud always knew he had a darker vision for it.

On Jan. 2, the world will hear that vision for "Zombie" thanks to the help of Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins.

"When I was making 'Zombie,' I was really channeling Siamese Dream," he said.

"It was really the sadness and the melancholic emotion mixed with the aggression of Billy's fucking guitars ... Billy, as a songwriter, was really at the forefront of my inspiration when I was making this album. When 'Zombie' came along, I knew I wanted to do a new version if it."

He said the initial approach he took to the song was heavier, but he was worried it sounded too much like the Smashing Pumpkins. While he's happy with "Zombie" as it exists on Idols, he always knew there would be another expression of the song.

"I called Billy and I was like, 'Billy, please help me scratch this itch. I want this record to dig in harder.' There still needs to be an almost Jekyll and Hyde element, there needs to be the version that's full of light and full of life and optimism, but then there needs to be this dark version that is pessimistic and a little bit bitter and a bit aggressive."

Fortunately, Corgan loved it and jumped at the opportunity to reimagine the song with Yungblud. Within about 10 days from that conversation and a quick trip to Chicago, Yungblud recorded the song and filmed a new music video.

"It's very natural. It's pretty cool."

Yungblud Channels Others' Bitterness Into Energy + Hope

Beyond the music, something Yungblud felt a connection to with Corgan was how polarizing he is as an artist. As he already opened up about, he knows he churns strong emotions from fans, especially in the world of rock 'n' roll.

"People like me or people don't and that's not always easy to handle," he shared.

"It can make you feel really isolated and it can actually deter you as a young musician. But to be honest, ultimately, I think that's the reason why I'm fucking here — to take on the bitterness a little bit because people don't realize that this blind negativity deters young musicians from trying at all."

"I think that's the reason why I'm fucking here — to take on the bitterness a little bit because people don't realize that this blind negativity deters young musicians from trying at all."

Yungblud finds inspiration not only in Corgan, but in several other artists he met and spent significant time with in 2025.

"What was beautiful about last year, about meeting Steven Tyler, about meeting Ozzy, about meeting Billy — every great rock star has always felt the same. Isn't it funny that every fucking great rock star was always hated? It almost encourages you more to use it as fuel and fight back."

While watching Corgan in conversation with Allison Hagendorf on her podcast, Yungblud heard him talk about his music and it significantly altered his perspective.

"He's like, here you have this young guy who has an incredible voice, who is just figuring out who he is — he's got to go and make something that is limitless in imagination and is ultimately what he wants to do," Yungblud recalled.

When he heard that, he cancelled everything on his schedule, went to his home in northern England and started working on Idols.

"Billy has always been an insane mentor to me in navigating, blocking out the noise and blocking out the world and making art that is true to you."

With Ozzy In Mind, Yungblud Followed His Gut at Back to the Beginning

Beyond his own original music, Yungblud is still pinching himself over sharing the stage at Back to the Beginning on July 5, 2025, in Birmingham. In a matter of minutes, Yungblud grabbed the world's attention as he paid tribute to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne with his defining cover of "Changes," which has also been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Performance category, an honor he shares with the others who joined him onstage: Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman, and Sleep Token's II.

The night before the performance, he spent 20 minutes with Ozzy, marking his final interaction with the legend. Though he knew he had to honor him with his performance, he said he also wanted to show Ozzy that he had nothing to worry about just a few hours before he'd take the stage.

"That's why I got the crowd to sing at the end," he said.

"I did not have that planned. Honestly, I swear I did not have that planned ... I knew he was getting there at 3 o'clock and it was 3:30 when I went onstage, so I wanted him to hear the roar of the stadium and that almost let him know, in his head, that he's going to be fucking fine tonight and he's going to be insane tonight."

As a singer and frontman, Yungblud said you're always thinking about what could go wrong. Though he didn't know exactly what Ozzy was feeling in that moment, he knew he wanted to bring him some sort of comfort.

"I wanted to quiet that beast. If he was thinking about that, I want him to be like, 'Wow, this is going to be insane,' you know?"

How Growing Up In a Guitar Shop Changed Yungblud's Life

In any conversation, it never takes long for Yungblud to express his love for rock 'n' roll. Not just the artists he's been fortunate enough to work with and get to know, but the breadth of the genre dating decades before he was born.

For Yungblud, his love of rock 'n' roll is part of his fabric thanks in large part to the fact that he spent much of his childhood in a guitar shop.

"It was the coolest adventure," he said.

"Me dad and me grandad had a guitar shop in the north of England and I used to go in every day and I was exposed to rock music at four years old, three years old. I got taught guitar by the guys who would work in the shop — I got brought up on the good shit."

Even before he was three years old, Yungblud said about six hours after he was brought home from the hospital, his dad set him on his counter at the guitar shop in Doncaster, England, and put a Beatles ukulele across his knee.

"I just sat on a counter while fucking Slayer or Lamb of God was playing," he said about his childhood in the shop.

"I'm crying on the shop counter and they're rocking me to sleep. They're throwing fucking dregs of Ernie Ball strings that they're changing into me cart...and I loved it. I fucking loved it."

The guitar shop was decorated with photos of rock stars, many of whom Yungblud has now gotten to know over the years. He grew up around pictures of his idols and he knew he wanted to be them.

"I feel like I'm meeting all my fucking heroes that were on me dad's wall. I feel like I'm in the shop again and it smells like fucking Tolex, amp glue, soldering wire and fucking lager. I feel like I'm fucking 10 again."

Yungblud Holds Onto the Uniqueness of His Life Experiences

No matter how many times it's discussed, it still seems surreal to consider what Yungblud has accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. In the last year alone, following the release of Idols, Yungblud has worked with those heroes that donned the guitar shop walls and a few unexpected ones, too, like Steve Martin and Lainey Wilson.

Now, on the eve of releasing "Zombie" with the Smashing Pumpkins, Yungblud said he's still pinching himself.

"I don't think it's normal, I'm still like, 'Holy fucking shit,'" he admitted.

"Gratitude is the biggest word."

Thinking about that holiday party that took place at the historic Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y., Yungblud's smile exploded.

"Gratitude is the biggest word."

"I get to stand onstage next to the guy that wrote, sang, produced 'Better Man'? I'm like, 'Holy shit,' you know what I mean?"

He did say it gets to feel a bit more normal when he has the chance to sit with an artist like Eddie Vedder and "kick it backstage," but no matter what, he'll never take those experiences and opportunities for granted.

"My vibe is like, how the fuck does this happen," he said.

"This is my biggest fucking thing to people who don't believe me. I grew up in a fucking guitar shop and now I'm onstage with the guys that I looked at on the fucking wall. I'm so lucky."

Yungblud said he intentionally took some time off at the end of 2025 to sit back and make sure he embraced every moment that came his way.

"If you don't feel it, you get bitter and you become a dick," he stated.

"And there's too many old wankers in this fucking genre that I don't want to be like. You meet the best, you meet the guys at the top, they're the fucking nicest. You meet fucking Ozzy, you meet [James] Hetfield, you meet Tyler, you meet Vedder, you meet Chad Smith, you meet Slash, you meet Duff [McKagan], they're the nicest because they felt it. They lived it."

At the end of the day, the thing he clings to most — the thing that each of those artists cling to — is how he defines his achievements.

"They don't determine success by numbers," he said.

"They determine success by do you love what you do? Because to me, big isn't always iconic ... U2 fill 80,000 seats. The Cramps barely filled 1,500, but [they're] both as iconic as the other."

Yungblud. Authentic. Real. Iconic.

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