For the second LP, YUNGBLUD has improved lots from when he first arrived and what is so great to see, is the positive impact he is making on some younger people around the world. The throwback of his pop punk is probably not the success story that could have been 20 years ago, yet there are signs of a talented songwriter that we need to see more of. Overall, we have a more enjoyable record but is it anything impressive? Far from it.
The opening track, ‘Teresa’ is an ode to a fan who spoke about her boyfriend who passed to him, who were both big fans. It’s a lovely sentiment and covers the spectrum of pop punk, even if at times it’s bit of a bumpy ride. However it is a good start to the LP, as it offers everything that fans of his will want. Then we have the single moment on the record that make sense and this is ‘Cotten Candy’.
The single is a reinforcement that YUNGBLUD is stronger with more his more popier side, it’s free and very catchy. It’s a blend of Post Malone and The 1975, the vocal delivery being a carbon copy of Matty Healy that may annoy some but I think it’s hard not to emulate his sound, if you are a fan of the frontman. It would be great to see the artist strip away the punk wannabe sound to this cool indie pop noise, it feels timeless when he does it.
Sadly my wish does not come true on ‘weird!’ and I am smacked with everything I struggle with on ‘Strawberry Lipstick’. You feel like the writing with the artist here isn’t a pure sense of inspiration, it’s just how we can fit cliches into a song to make it feel bad arse. The result it is a disjointed song that’s filled with poor attempts of bringing pop punk back to some sort of popularity in the streaming world, which is a shame as the chorus is decent but feels barf worthy among this poor song.
‘Mars’ is a power pop punk number that just comes in and ticks all the boxes, to at least a better standard this time. Lyrically, they do resonate and the vocal delivery of wanting some hope and purpose hits hard! It’s a shame that the sheer passion revolves just around ‘is there any life on Mars’, a shift to a more profound statement could of been the icing on the cake for a song with a lot of potential.
Following on it's ‘superdeadfriends’, a track that offers a BIG surprise of how there is an actual risk on here. The idea of blending Beastie Boys and Happy Monday’s is commendable and is a lot of fucking fun! Annoyingly, the mixing of the vocals sound too funny…what is it?!!
‘lovesong’ contains lyrics thats aren’t the most solid, potentially feeling a tad over the top but the delivery is very inspiring. The production does not over blow the song which is a blessing as it normally does on the LP. With the previous song and ‘god save me, but don’t drown me’, the feeling you can hear in the purer moments is a strong factor to the album, it gives it all so much more credibility. The later song is more of an electric and arena esq track with a cool chorus, in fact it does remind me of the band, Pale Waves.
‘ice cream man’ has the sound of the ice cream van at the start which creeps me out, ahhhh! While the beat of it all is the strongest aspect of song, it is interesting to hear how YUNGBLUD does tackle how he will be the lip stick and skirt wearing pop punk boy, when his hometown never really got why. ‘weird!’ then seems to tackle everything on the album, from a youth standpoint. The prechorus is actually pretty decent, the video game like synths are a cool touch and the distorted guitar do sound the finest on the whole project.
The album really is a bumpy ride and hh dear the corniness of ‘charity’ that follows....it comes across as wanting to be a modern version of ‘Parklife’ within the verses (the lyrics are incredibly dull). It’s a real shame when YUNGBLUD overindulges in his inspirations, it hides away how talented the songwriter can be and I hope he embraces his own ability more in the future!
The last two tracks are contrasting, offering an interesting shift to finish things off. ‘it’s quiet in Beverly Hills’ has some nice strings but the acoustic number feels so plastic, reminding me of 5SOS’s ‘Amnesia’. It is a huge disappointment as it does not have any rawness to it when it truly needs it! Anyway, the premise of the song is that we find YUNGBLUD wanting to eat some hobnobs when stuck in LA, it could of been an impactful song!
To conclude, we are offered the dramatic ‘the freak show’, an ever changing closer to the second album. Aspects of it are enjoyable and the second part is actually very good, yet we are given this imagine dragons spooky aspect that does not feel dramatic, why....just why. Despite that annoying hiccup, it is a strong closer and it seems like YUNGBLUD is going in the write direction and lett's hope he embraces his talents as much as himself next time around.
Written by Tom Bedding
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