Lowlife

Album: released as a single (2023)
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Songfacts®:

  • There were times in Yungblud's past when he just wanted to barricade himself indoors. He was fed up with the drama, and his friends were suffocating him, too. It was as if everyone had a script for his life, a role for him to play. This energetic, rebellious and turbo-charged anthem is about those periods when Yungblud didn't want to leave his house.

    "The truth is I didn't want to be anything at all sometimes, I wanted to be nothing," he said. "So I just didn't leave bed. I was dissatisfied and craving some sort of boredom. The type of boredom where you sit in your house, in the same sheets and watch f--king mind numbing TV, so I wrote a song about it."
  • Yungblud co-wrote "Lowlife" with LA songwriter/producer Jake Torrey (Justin Bieber's "Off My Face," Charlie Puth's "Light Switch") and Mutemath frontman Paul Meany. Yungblud also collaborated with Torrey and Meany on his 2022 track "Tissues."
  • Yungblud co-produced "Lowlife" with Paul Meany. Entering the studio, he deliberately left behind any references or preconceived notions about the end result. "I've not been going into the studio intent on making something like, 'Close To Me' or 'Born This Way' or 'Life On Mars?' he said. "We'd start with a blank canvas each time, bring up a beat and see what the f---happens."
  • "Lowlife" weaves together heavy basslines and brutally honest lyrics. It's a clear pivot back to Yungblud's original musical style from his early days. He released the song on June 7, 2023, as his first solo single since his 2022 eponymous third album.
  • Filmed in London, the music video features Yungblud and a young actor named Colt, who plays his younger self. Colt was cast after Yungblud met him while filming a live performance video in New Orleans.

    "I wanted to make something that looked like emo Shameless or St. Trinian's on acid," said Yungblud. "As I was writing the song, I was visualizing the video in my head. It literally helped me get the words down on paper."

    "I knew it had to be shot in Camden Town and I wanted to be walking side by side with my younger self, guiding him through a f---ed up world based on real memories and people I have encountered in my life," he continued. "Almost a message to myself saying that life doesn't always have to be so deep and there is magic to be found in chaos and opportunity in disaster."

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