Weird! is the second studio album by English singer Yungblud, released on 4 December 2020 by Locomotion and Interscope Records. Originally scheduled for 13 November 2020, the album's release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] It is Yungblud's first album since 21st Century Liability (2018). The album was supported by six singles: "Weird!", "Strawberry Lipstick", "God Save Me, but Don't Drown Me Out", "Cotton Candy", "Mars" and "Acting Like That", and contains collaborations with Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker.
Weird! | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 4 December 2020 | |||
Recorded | 2019–2020 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:01 | |||
Label |
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Producer |
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Yungblud chronology | ||||
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Yungblud studio album chronology | ||||
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Singles from Weird! | ||||
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Weird! debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart selling 39,000 units in its first week.[4][5]
Background
editOn 2 December 2019, Yungblud shared on social media that he was going "a little mia" to work on his second record.[6] The next day, he clarified that he was not taking time off, just taking time to finish the second album.[7] On 3 December, Matt Schwartz posted photos of himself and Harrison on his Instagram, with the caption stating that they were working on the second studio album in Spain.[8]
Throughout the process of making the album, he would occasionally tweet out pieces of poems that appeared to be lyrics to songs. In May 2020, during an NME interview he was asked about the album, replying: "The album is done and we're going to start rolling it out. [Weird!] is the first chess move of that era. There's a lot of diversity on [the album] – it's like an episode of Skins in an album. Since the beginning of time, humans have been so complex and like 15 different personalities at once – but we're the first generation to accept it and know that it's alright to be who you are."[9] The cover is made to imitate the film poster for This Is England.[10]
Critical reception
editAggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 5.9/10[11] |
Metacritic | 66/100[12] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [13] |
The Arts Desk | [14] |
Clash | 7/10[15] |
Dork | [16] |
Evening Standard | [17] |
The Guardian | [18] |
The Independent | [19] |
Kerrang! | 2/5[20] |
NME | [21] |
Pitchfork | 5.5/10[22] |
Weird! received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album has an average score of 66 out of 100, based on eight reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 5.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
Track listing
editNo. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Teresa" |
|
| 3:24 |
2. | "Cotton Candy" |
|
| 2:47 |
3. | "Strawberry Lipstick" |
|
| 2:43 |
4. | "Mars" |
|
| 3:01 |
5. | "Superdeadfriends" |
|
| 2:20 |
6. | "Love Song" |
|
| 4:00 |
7. | "God Save Me, but Don't Drown Me Out" |
|
| 3:37 |
8. | "Ice Cream Man" |
|
| 3:12 |
9. | "Weird!" |
|
| 3:03 |
10. | "Charity" |
|
| 3:39 |
11. | "It's Quiet in Beverly Hills" |
|
| 2:36 |
12. | "The Freak Show" |
|
| 4:27 |
Total length: | 38:49 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
13. | "Braindead!" |
| Schwartz | 2:43 |
14. | "Parents" |
|
| 2:51 |
15. | "Original Me" (featuring Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons) |
|
| 3:25 |
16. | "Casual Sabotage" |
| Schwartz | 3:08 |
17. | "Hope for the Underrated Youth" |
|
| 4:00 |
18. | "Waiting on the Weekend" |
| Crossey | 2:32 |
Total length: | 58:28 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Teresa" |
|
| 3:24 |
2. | "Parents" |
|
| 2:51 |
3. | "Cotton Candy" |
|
| 2:47 |
4. | "Strawberry Lipstick" |
|
| 2:43 |
5. | "Mars" |
|
| 3:01 |
6. | "Superdeadfriends" |
|
| 2:20 |
7. | "Love Song" |
|
| 4:00 |
8. | "God Save Me, but Don't Drown Me Out" |
|
| 3:37 |
9. | "Ice Cream Man" |
|
| 3:12 |
10. | "Weird!" |
|
| 3:03 |
11. | "Charity" |
|
| 3:39 |
12. | "Acting Like That" (featuring Machine Gun Kelly) |
| Barker | 3:11 |
13. | "It's Quiet in Beverly Hills" |
|
| 2:36 |
14. | "The Freak Show" |
|
| 4:27 |
Total length: | 44:51 |
Note
- All track titles are stylized in lowercase
Personnel
editMusicians
edit- Yungblud – vocals (all tracks), guitar (1–8, 11, 13), bass guitar (1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14), keyboards (5, 9), programming (5), background vocals (7, 9), percussion (7, 9)
- Chris Greatti - guitar (1–8, 11, 14), bass guitar (1, 3–8, 10, 11, 13, 14), background vocals (3, 8, 9, 12), programming (4, 5), drums (5), keyboards (5, 7, 9), strings (7)
- Adam Warrington - guitar (1, 4, 5, 9)
- Omer Fedi - bass guitar (1, 5, 6), keyboards (5), programming (5, 7)
- Zakk Cervini – programming (1–9, 11, 14), drums (4, 5, 7), percussion (4), keyboards (5), vocal programming (12)
- Michael Rennie - drums (5, 9), percussion (9)
- Mike Crossey – keyboards, programming (5)
- Nick Mira – programming (7)
- Tom Pallant – background vocals (9, 11)
- Matt Schwartz – keyboards, programming (9); bass guitar, guitar, programming (13)
- Machine Gun Kelly – vocals (12)
- Dan Reynolds – vocals (15)
Technical
edit- Chris Gehringer – mastering (1, 3, 5–14)
- Joe LaPorta – mastering (2)
- Neal Avron – mixing (1, 2, 4–11, 13, 14), engineering (1, 2, 5–11, 13, 14)
- Serban Ghenea – mixing (3)
- Adam Hawkins – mixing, engineering (12)
- John Hanes – engineering (3)
- K Thrash – engineering (12)
- Matt Malpass – engineering (12)
- Shaan Singh – engineering (12)
- Zakk Cervini – recording (1, 3, 5–9, 11, 13, 14)
- Stevens – recording (5)
- Matt Schwartz – recording (9, 13)
Charts
editChart (2020) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] | 6 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] | 39 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] | 26 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] | 118 |
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[32] | 94 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[33] | 57 |
French Albums (SNEP)[34] | 130 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[35] | 21 |
Irish Albums (OCC)[36] | 28 |
Italian Albums (FIMI)[37] | 80 |
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[38] | 47 |
UK Albums (OCC)[39] | 1 |
US Billboard 200[40] | 75 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[41] | 10 |
Certifications
editRegion | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
References
edit- ^ Murphy, Lauren. "Yungblud – Weird! review: Hits the pop-indie-rock bullseye, but that's the problem". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ "Yungblud: Weird!". Pitchfork.
- ^ "Yungblud delays 'Weird!' album release to December". ALT AZ 93.3. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ "Yungblud lands first Number One album with 'Weird!'". NME. 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Yungblud's Weird! Album debuts at Number 1: "Yungblud is not me, it is us, this is our award"". Official Charts.
- ^ @yungblud (2 December 2019). "gonna go a little mia for a couple days to clear my head n try to finish writing this fookin album. miss u wanna kiss u ... don't cause too much trouble while im gone" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ @yungblud (4 December 2019). "every1 thinks im takin time off ... im writing this fuckin albuuum maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. kk bye im going back under the rock" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ "@yungblud Album 2 "The Spain Sessions" 🤘🤘🤘🖤🖤🖤". mblackuk. 3 December 2019. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Instagram.
- ^ "Yungblud talks "optimistic" new era for second album: "It's like an episode of 'Skins'!"". NME. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "This is How the Cover Art for YUNGBLUD's 'Weird!' Was Shot - News". Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ "Weird! by Yungblud reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Weird! by Yungblud Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Yeung, Neil. "Weird! - Yungblud". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Green, Thomas (4 December 2020). "Album: Yungblud - Weird!". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Murray, Robin (4 December 2020). "YUNGBLUD – WEIRD!". Clash. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ ACKROYD, STEPHEN (4 December 2020). "Yungblud – Weird!". Dork. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ SMYTH, DAVID (4 December 2020). "Yungblud - Weird! review: An album for Gen Z, not grown-ups". Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Empire, Kitty (6 December 2020). "Yungblud: Weird! review – not as strange as all that". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ Beaumont, Mark (3 December 2020). "Album reviews: The White Stripes – Greatest Hits, Yungblud – Weird!, and Tori Amos – Christmastide". The Independent. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- ^ Ruskell, Nick (4 December 2020). "Album review: YUNGBLUD – Weird!". Kerrang!. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Shutler, Ali (4 December 2020). "Yungblud – 'weird!' review: Gen-Z rock star channels the greats on his most vital dispatch yet". NME. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Bardhan, Ashley (17 December 2020). "Weird! - YUNGBLUD Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "Standard CD". Yungblud Store.
- ^ "ウィアード! [CD]" (in Japanese). Universal Music Japan. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ "CDJapan: weird! Yungblud CD Album". CDJapan. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ "weird!". Spotify. 4 December 2020.
- ^ "weird! by YUNGBLUD on Apple Music". Apple Music. 4 December 2020.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Yungblud – Weird!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Yungblud – Weird!" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Yungblud – Weird!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Yungblud – Weird!" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 50.Týden 2020 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Yungblud – Weird!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Yungblud – Weird!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Yungblud – Weird!" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Classifica settimanale WK 50 (dal 04.12.2020 al 10.12.2020)" (in Italian). FIMI. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ^ "Billboard 200 Chart: December 19, 2020". Billboard. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ "Yungblud, RCK". Billboard. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ "British album certifications – Yungblud – Weird". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 April 2022.