REVIEW: Yungblud - Idols II
- Lorena H
- 56 minutes ago
- 4 min read
YUNGBLUD is back with Idols II. Announced just two days before its release, it marks the completion of what has become the most significant chapter of his career. Idols part one, released in June 2025, was YUNGBLUD's third consecutive UK number one album. A significant pivot from his original sound that won some new fans, unsettled some old ones, and earned him the acclaim from rock and roll's cult musicians recognising their own. In between came the world tour, the EP One More Time with AEROSMITH, and three Grammy nominations, including a win for Best Rock Performance for his rendition of OZZY OSBOURNE's Changes at the Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning show in Birmingham. And now, it is time for Idols II. The completion.
Idols part one was about reclaiming identity: breaking down and piecing yourself back together to escape a dark place. DOM HARRISON put it plainly in the album's lyrics: "All you are is a self-fulfilling prophecy / Product of your own temptation." About part two, HARRISON says: "It’s about realising I am alive, I am real, and this journey didn't break me. It's about feeling invincible when you finally feel yourself." That's what Idols II is built on. The realisation that you made it, that you're still here. A celebration of life.
Produced again alongside MATT SCHWARTZ, Idols II picks up exactly where part one left off, musically and emotionally. The six new tracks, plus a reworked Zombie alongside legends THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, flow from the end of part one as naturally as exhaling.
I Need You (To Make the World Seem Fine) opens the record and it's breathtakingly beautiful. Acoustic guitar leads, the sound moving between ears in a way that places you right inside the room with him. A rock orchestra builds around it, grandiose and unhurried, while DOM's voice stays melodic without losing that characteristic rasp. It closes with the same delicacy it opened with, a perfect complement to Supermoon, the track that ended part one.
The Postman follows and hits back in true YUNGBLUD fashion. A fun, irreverent track that makes you want to get up and dance, with that familiar edge and the chaos from his older albums. It carries the Britpop influences that gave part one its particular flavour, and it would be an absolute highlight live. Then comes Zombie, a reimagined version with THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, and it's a hell of a collaboration. Heavier, more metallic, a full rock band version bringing its own weight to the track. Time strips everything back and brings you closer. Just DOM and his acoustic guitar, up close and personal. His voice feels exposed here in the most disarming way, the raspiness and sweetness sitting side by side. The work he put in with vocal coach MARY HAMMOND finds its fullest expression in a moment like this, where there's nowhere to hide. Short, sweet, and quietly one of the best things on the album.
A blessing for the fans of War, War Pt. II picks it back up, finding itself a new perspective. The tempo shifts and brings a touch of pop-punk into the fabric without losing the thread of the original. Where War had DOM saying "I wanna feel inspired", here the lyric shifts to "Are you feeling inspired? Are you having the best time of your life?" An open question that makes you stop and sit with the answer. Followed by Blueberry Hill, a standout that knows it. A rock and roll orchestra of keys, guitars, horns, the whole expanse of it. Theatrical in the same spirit as Change from part one, bringing a piece of it into the fold. The final minute opens up in a way that echoes Hello Heaven, Hello, a room with no ceiling. Suburban Requiem closes the record and lands like an alternative world version of Supermoon. Where that track turned inward, this one opens outward, settling into something quieter and more considered. The Idols universe, across both records and everything between them, ends here. And it ends well.
"Anyone out there who is going through hard times right now," YUNGBLUD said, "I hope this second part of the album helps to ground you, helps to focus you, helps you to feel alive as much as it has done for me." With Idols complete, DOM HARRISON has done something that most artists spend entire careers chasing. He's made a body of work that is entirely, unmistakably his own. The Doncaster kid who started out making noise in his bedroom has grown into an artist with real range, real vision, and the confidence to follow both wherever they lead. Idols II is proof that he's not just arrived. He's been here a while, and he's only getting started.
Score: 9/10
Idols II was released on 20th February 2026 via Island Records/Locomotion.
Words: Lorena H
Photos: The Outside Organisation
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