Written by: Ellie Gressman
Since 2017, Dominic Harrison, better known as YUNGBLUD, has been creating music that aims to change the world and inspire the youth. He combines powerful music and vocals with a call to action, inspirational theme. His new track, Hope for the Underrated Youth definitely doesn’t change that. Combining powerful vocals with an overall theme of freedom of expression and speech, this song is meant to inspire the youth of today to stand up to what they believe in.
The song opens with a heavy guitar intro, which kind of gave me a Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch feel, which is definitely not a bad thing because that song is a classic. It gets accompanied by powerful intro vocals with a vocal doubling effect on it which gives a more powerful feel. It immediately sets the tone for the whole song. The lyrics read, “If I left today/Would you wait for me or would you throw us all away?” This could mean him asking if he disappeared, would his fans wait for him or would they just forget about him and stay with the trends. This is a very powerful line to me because it reminds me of someone’s mind running wild with thoughts that they can’t control because of a mental illness, which is present later on in the song. The effect then stops and it’s just his single voice, which creates a more chilling response. His voice and vocals are so powerful and definitely perfectly fit the track. He even used his head voice once in the song, which I haven’t heard in his other songs, and it gave me chills. Then, the chorus starts and the chills grow more intense. He’s calling out to his fans, the youth, and saying there’s hope for us and that’s not a lie. He’s said before that he believes this current generation is going to save the world because we’re smarter than people credit us to be, and this song definitely accompanies that belief. The instruments fit the song and message perfectly. In the second verse, he starts singing faster and lower, talking about how his mind runs wild with dark thoughts and how he got criticized for being himself. Like I mentioned before, another mention of mental illness comes in the second verse, "My personality got fucked up by the Adderall". YUNGBLUD has always been open about his ADHD and how the medication he was prescribed stifled his creativity and real personality. This line could bring in a self acceptance theme as well, as he talks about accepting his non-medicated personality and wanting to be who he actually is. The song ends with the chorus, but the vocals get even more powerful with higher and more drawn out notes. It fades out, which gives the listener some time to think about the message and process the beautiful masterpiece they just listened to.
Overall, Hope for the Underrated Youth by YUNGBLUD is a powerful song filled with messages of hope and acceptance of who you really are, and i rate is a 5/5 stars. This song is one I would recommend to everyone, fan or not, and I believe it could spark a fire in the youth generation that is needed, especially with the events going on in the world today. Check it out on Apple Music and Spotify!