We’re so happy that you’re back in Budapest. You’ve been here a couple of times before, do you have a favourite memory from our city?
I love it here. I remember the first time we played Sziget, my mom came out to see the gig. We were walking on the river, I was like, this is so crazy. You never know… It was our first proper big festival and we were on at like, 4pm, so it was quite early in a tent. You never know, sometimes, when you’re on early in a tent, back then, it could have been a bit rough. And I remember, it must have been about 20 thousand people in a 10 thousand capacity tent. It was fucking insane. I was like, wow, this is unbelievable. I remember this every time we come back to Budapest. Since then, we did the EMAs, everything like that, we always had a really big fanbase here, so I’m really grateful. I promise I’ll keep coming back. It’s been really cool.
You just announced your new single, it’s called „Breakdown” and it’s coming out soon. Can you tell me a bit about the background of the song, like what inspired it, and what is the message that you’re trying to get across with it?
What was beautiful, really, was that I wrote that song as almost a self-help message to myself. It’s been the hardest year for my mental health because I’ve not been on the road. It’s been the first time I’ve been off touring for six months. For five years in my career, I’ve been on the road every day, so it’s like, you don’t have the time to be sad. You know what I mean? You just gotta go and go and go. Every night, if I have a shit day, I get to walk out on the stage and I get to see you guys, so I’m like, this is awesome. But I was really struggling and I made a song for myself, I made a poem for myself to be like, Dom, get up. Get out of bed in the morning. If you’re gonna back out of dinner with your friends because you have an anxiety attack, put it on. It was a song that I made for myself and it was never intended to come out. It was a message to myself and I played it for some people, and everyone was like, this is amazing, you gotta put this out. It’s kind of weird, it has a drum and bass beat on it, and it’s got strings on it… It’s not my usual type of music. But everyone was like, it’s got this purity to it that is so YUNGBLUD. Because Dom made it for Dom to be able to just get through the day. It’s been cool to just be able to share it. I put a snippet of it out last night and people love it.
And you play it live, as well.
I’ll play it tonight. I wanted to make people’s days better if they’re having a shitty day. You know one of those songs that you can just play and be like, alright, reset, let’s go. You know what I mean? If I wake up, no matter what happens, I’m with you in your headphones and that’s cool.
I know you’re working on your new album and I know it’s going to be a special one. In what ways is it going to stand out from your previous records?
It is unlike anything we’ve ever done. It’s a concept album. It’s a rock opera. That’s what it is. The music doesn’t stop. The whole thing runs into each other, and I want to tour it like that. It’s not like anything we’ve ever done, and it’s my favourite thing we’ve ever done. I’ve been making it for four years, and it’s been the biggest adventure. I started writing it after „weird!” went number one. It’s been a while, but we’re nearly finished with it, and now we’re preparing to tie it all together.
You’ve been in the music industry for quite some time now. What is your proudest achievement so far?
Wow. I don’t really measure my achievements. I could say, we’ve had number one albums everywhere, but that stuff doesn’t matter to me. Every night on stage, I’m so proud to be able to be like wow, at this, what the fuck. So many people are coming to see us in Budapest.
One of our friends has been here since 6 am.
It’s wild. It’s beatiful. It’s a really fun summer for us because we’re in a strange place. Me and and Adam, our guitar player, have written the new album together. We’ve not let anybody in. No writers, just us, that’s it. Fucking pure. We just said, this summer, let’s go and play a set of pure energy of YUNGBLUD, because the album we’re about to put out is a different side of us. It sounds, sonically, bigger that anything we’ve ever done. It’s like gig in your ears.
What is the biggest challenge that you had to face during your career?
First, it would be misjudgement of my intention or authenticity. That’s a hard thing to deal with. Then you realise quite quickly that that’s the point of being an artist. To be liked, to be loved, to be hated, that’s art. Opinions. It’s putting a feeling on a page and giving it to the world. I think that, but I feel like we’re in a good place. There’s been a lot of challenges, but we’re coming out on a side, that’s like, let’s fucking go. Let’s have fun, it doesn’t matter. Adhering to the radio, adhering to the TV, and you get to the point like this. I look at my fanbase, and none of that matters. It’s just about me and them.
Now that you’ve mentioned your fanbase. Your songs help a lot of your fans who are going through a difficult time. What helps you remain positive and optimistic when life gets a little too tough?
The idea that we have to make it. There’s no other option. The world right now is fucked everywhere. And we have to make it. That’s it. I have to make it, you have to make it, and you have to make it. We have to make it. There’s no other option, and that’s why I fight so hard. That’s why I always talk about generations below me and my generation – vote, talk, march, do everything, even if people disagree with you. I think that’s a dark thing at the minute. A lot of us are leading with anger, even if it’s for the right thing. There’s so much shouting going on that no one is being heard at the minute. From every fucking angle. We have to learn to love and coexist in harmony and keep talking about it. It’s fucked now, but if we remain pure and together in our unity, in our disagreement, we will outgrow the hate and it will diminish. It will just diminish. We have to coexist in disagreement and in unity but without hate and violence.
And finally, is there a message that you would like to share with your Hungarian fans?
I love you. I cannot believe the size of the venue tonight. I cannot believe you’ve got this community here. We’ll keep coming back to Hungary. We fucking love it, and we will be back many more times. I wanna headline Sziget festival one day and I wanna play here forever. I can’t wait for you to hear the new album. Thank you for everything, I hope you keep coming back. We’ll give you everything on stage tonight.
