Single Review: Yungblud - '21st Century Liability'

One of the UK's most enigmatic and tumultuous singers to emerge in the past year, Dominic Harrison, aka Yungblud, just dropped his new single “21st Century Liability”, released via Locomotion / Geffen Records.

“We're all made from the spawn of the devil” is the opening line, delivered in the manner of what sounds like a possessed child, it sets a delightfully playful and mischievous tone for the rest of the record. What catches my attention most about the song is the variety of genres that get explored, it's an alt-pop song with hints of dubstep, funk, punk, RnB and rock all blended together and it works, it works very well. The bass is infectious and there are all manner of sound snippets overlaid throughout. The drums are deep and rhythmic with a climatic surge midway when Dominic Harrison vocals build in assertive power, repeating the song title over and over.

Standout lyric:
“When I was younger I had a proper plan
Keep myself naive take advice from the man
But I turned 17 and I saw in my head
He was blowing up the world with a ball point pen”

The music industry has never been in short supply of its anarchists and you could naively tag Yungblud with that label. But in doing so you wouldn't take into account the musical discipline behind the tracks and the very witty, tounge-in-cheek, honest and relevant lyrics that fill all their tracks. There is no ego or arrogance, just pure passion and a desire for the youth to be heard and understood; we're not all “..spawn of the Devil” as I alluded to earlier.

Yungblud explains:

“It’s a song for misunderstood youth growing up in a world of anxiety, confusion and fear … It’s a statement that liabilities or failures aren’t what we are, we may just think or behave in a different way to you but if you actually hear us out, we’ll surprise you.”

21st Century Liability is taken from Yungblud debut album which will be released this summer and I am in no doubt that this song gives us a great taste of what we can expect.

Yungblud have just played a string of UK shows opening for Don Broco, and will join Vans Warped tour in the US on July 3rd in St. Louis at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater. They will appear at several festivals over the summer and the London headline show at Dingwalls is on the verge of selling out.

UK Tour Dates:

May 27 - Swansea, BBC Radio 1’s Biggest Weekend
May 30 - London, Dingwalls
May 31 - Dublin, Whelan's
July 1 - London, Community Festival
Aug 25 - Reading, Reading and Leeds Fest
Aug 26 - Leeds, Reading and Leeds Fest

Words by Rachel Prew