by Eliana Fermi
To me, YUNGBLUD was light on definition, and he was loud without clarity, emotional without restraint, and his earlier music always felt like an aesthetic more than an idea. Most of what I heard was a collage of noise and eyeliner with no real shape. So when the singles for Idols started rolling out, I was skeptical. “Hello Heaven, Hello,” “Lovesick Lullaby,” and “Zombie” were good. Idols is YUNGBLUD being ambitious without the bloat, the majority of the twelve tracks are emotionally charged without being juvenile and he sounds like an artist that knows what to do with his voice, his influences, and his theatrical leanings. This is a project that changes your opinion of YOUNGBLUD, making you want to hear what he does next.
The most immediate and welcome shift is YUNGBLUD’s voice, literally and figuratively. Gone is the whiny, overdriven edge that used to feel like affectation. On Idols, his vocals are passionate and controlled, still theatrical, but grounded in making phrases. “Zombie” in particular finds him walking the line between emo vulnerability and melodic clarity, with a hook that sticks without feeling forced. He sings with his range now and knows where to make intensity feel earned instead of imposed.
On “Hello Heaven, Hello,” he stretches that performance across nine minutes with surprising finesse. From spoken-word introspection to soaring choruses drenched in echo and layered harmony, this is a vocal arc with a sense of scale. The song’s form is varied and the different feels keeps the performance alive and filling the whole theater.
The production is helmed primarily by Mati Schwartz and the realized rock production is a balance of rock, pop, glam, and EDM. The album trades in waves: guitars crashing in like tidal surges, synths adding gravity and lift, and drum lines that balance stadium energy with just enough dance detail. It’s loud and there’s clarity beneath the wall-of-sound aesthetic that makes repeated listens feel rewarding rather than exhausting.
What’s impressive is how consistently good the production is. While many albums start strong and fizzle, Idols maintains its sonic identity from start to finish. Even when the songwriting dips into more familiar or derivative territory in the later half of the album, the sheer quality of the mix and instrumental layering keeps things tolerable.
Idols still swims in themes of identity, alienation, and self-reclamation, but it’s less self-indulgent and more self-aware. He’s not writing out of anger anymore, he’s writing toward understanding. Even the darker material, like “Monday Murder,” carries a sense of purpose rather than just aesthetic rebellion.
There’s also a real maturity in knowing when not to scream. That emotional restraint is riding intensity without overselling it, an evolution from his past work. If there’s one flaw, it’s structural. The album wraps with two quieter tracks, “Idols Pt. II” and “Supermoon,” that don’t hold the emotional weight they aim for. They’re soft landings after a launch that deserved a longer orbit. At just under 48 minutes, Idols could’ve run shorter, streaming the emotional gravity.
There’s a difference between getting better and leveling up. Most artists improve in increments. Idols is a leap. Whether you’re into YUNGBLUD’s past or not, this album earns your attention. The vocals are vastly improved. The production is consistently delightful. The performances are dramatic in the best sense of the word. An emotional, well-produced, and surprisingly cohesive rock record that deserves a listen. That’s the short of it!
