Original Me

Album: The Underrated Youth (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Original Me" is a high-energy self-deprecating track in which Yungblud and Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds explore their lack of self-esteem.

    I'm so sick of me, wake up and hate to breathe
    And I pride myself in that, so dramatic, I'll admit
    I'm so typical, my life ain't difficult
    But I'm so caught up in it, just a lowlife, I'll admit


    Yungblug said: "This song is about accepting the parts of yourself that you hate and realizing your biggest superpower is to be originally, authentically yourself."
  • The topic of embracing your deficiencies is one that Reynolds has visited before. Imagine Dragons' 2017 single "Believer" is a case in point. On it, he sings about how the anxiety and depression he has endured helped make him a believer in himself.
  • The song is Yungblud's first collaboration with Dan Reynolds. According to the British singer, the "mutual raw energy" between them led to "Original Me" being completed in just one day.
  • The song's music video, which was directed by Jordan Bahat (Twenty One Pilots, Christine and the Queens), is set in a Las Vegas junkyard filled with broken-down cars. As Yungblud and Reynolds sing the tune, more vehicles drop from the sky onto them.
  • Yungblud and Dan Reynolds performed the song together for the first time on the October 21, 2019 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
  • "Original Me" won Best Video at the 2020 NME Awards. Yungblud said after picking up his gong, "This video is mental because we got crushed by cars which signify if you f---ing get crushed in life, you get back up."

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