YUNGBLUD loner video
[Photo via YouTube]

YUNGBLUD transports us to his hometown in “Loner” video

YUNGBLUD often uses his music and accompanying videos as a platform for change, inspiration or just to get a conversation going. While new track “Loner” may inspire you to raise some hell, the video’s overall message addresses getting back to basics.

The singer-songwriter (also known as Dominic Harrison) wanted to use the video to take fans back to his Doncaster, United Kingdom, roots, describing the track and footage as a “hand-in-hand representation of where [he’s] from.”

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“I’ve loved doing videos that have been stylized, character-filled and really intense, metaphorical and artistic,” he explains. “I just wanted this one to be grit, roots—me and nothing else. At the end of that three minutes, you know exactly who I am as a person and not as an artist [or] a character.”

To show this, Harrison shot within minutes of where he grew up, from his grandmother’s house to the first venue he performed in. He incorporated his friends and cousin in the fun, and while it felt amazing for him to return, he was also aiming to capture it with a bigger purpose.

“I wanted to portray [that] I’ve gone across the world and met so many people and had so many experiences, but I want people to look at it and remember I’m just a 21-year-old young person from the north of England who’s been put in a position by a fanbase and by people, and I’ll never forget. Once I forget that, I’m in really dangerous territory. I needed that as a reminder almost to myself as well as my audience.”

YUNGBLUD was sure to include the Norton Coronation Club where he played some of his first shows.

“It was kind of weird but amazing to be shooting where I played my first shows,” he says. “I remember stories like the first show I ever played, it was me [and] my mates with drum kits and amps. We had no PA system, so I would be singing out of a bingo PA [where] old men and women who are retired go and play games and shit and talk over a microphone, so it was probably the worst-sounding gig ever.”

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The track also harkens back to Harrison’s roots as he was listening to artists such as Oasis, Blur and the Stone Roses while writing it. He even worked his musical influences in visually as the makeup he wears serves as a nod to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” look.

“Mick Jagger is such a big inspiration for me as a frontman because he just had this grit and this soul that just captured me and almost put me under a spell. I studied him, and I was like, ‘How can I do a nod to him?’ And this was the first opportunity that I got.

“I want to encourage the kids to put makeup on at the shows and wear it because, again, it builds a sense of community, which is kind of the key formula to YUNBLUD,” he continues. “It’s the key word: community. You know, like, let’s do something together, and it’s sick.”

Despite wanting to build that sense of community, Harrison accepts that he and his fans might struggle with loneliness.

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“The song for me is about no matter how many people I’ve got around me, I always seem to feel lonely,” he says. “And yeah, man, it’s dark, but it represents my life in a way that everything is so noisy, everything is so fast, everything is so jam-packed all the time.

“All day you have people shouting in your face. You’ve got a camera in your face. You’re running around. You’re up, you’re down, you’re in, you’re out. Then, by the end of the day, it’s just silence because you’re alone. It’s really hard to deal with the juxtaposition of noise, and that’s what the last shot entails. Because it’s like everyone’s around you, and a split second later, you’re alone with your thoughts, and it’s silent. It’s scary. I don’t know. I just needed to put that in a song—one I sing every night—get that out, and get that emotion out so I feel better, and I wrote it to be so uplifting because I wanted people in the audience to be like, ‘Oh, my God, I feel the fucking same.’”

“Loner” is YUNGBLUD’s first release since his debut full-length 21st Century Liability this summer. He’s currently on tour through March with dates and tickets available here.

Check out the new video below.

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