YUNGBLUD Brings Anthemic Energy To Loneliness
“Lovesick Lullaby” is a punk rock alt anthem that’s trying to make something energetic and confrontational out of the loneliness that can come from feeling a lack of love in your life. The production of the song has this heavy guitar and cymbal-driven percussion behind it that carry the song. Those production elements feel a little at odds with the almost spoken word verses, but after a couple of listens, it starts to flow together, and it stands out more as an intriguing feature to help break up the verses with the single line chorus.
The first verse of the song primarily comments on the depression and loneliness that he routinely deals with, so much so that it’s become an expectation of his morning routine to set aside two hours to feel like himself. In a bid to find something to curve those feelings, he asks someone if they’d like to come out tonight, “You look nice on the outside, do you wanna come out tonight?”. The first line speaks to how it’s customary to hide our inner feelings through our physical appearance, using it as a disguise or shielding mechanism. This leads into a single line chorus that accentuates how ultimately, he’s only looking for a quick fix in his pursuit of pleasure, “'Cause I, I wanna feel good emotions in this lovesick lullaby".”
The second verse more so comments on how he’s unable to make a decision and stick with it, comparing his date to her friend and whether he would’ve been happier with them instead. There is a self-awareness to his situation as he understands he’s making the wrong choices, but that choice is enticing enough to ignore the potential consequences. He knows he’s wrong, but it feels so good in the process (“I always pick the wrong people, they make me feel like I'm sick in the head / So then I go on a daydream where I know that I'm wrong and it makes me right”).
The third and final verse feels like a culmination of these ideas as he regales a brief story about buying marijuana in an attempt to impress his friends, but all it does is alienate him more from them. Keeping it for himself and gong back to the dealer, they seemingly smoke and the dealer tells him the story about a lovesick lullaby. What this could be getting at is the fact that getting too deep in your own head and emotions can put you in a cycle of wanting, of being lovesick, and the depressive feelings that can come with wanting to fill a hole where nothing seems to fit. An interlude lyric, “Hash man, hash man, go round the roundabout,” punctuates this endless cycle. As with any roundabout, you can easily turn off, but it can be too fun to stay in the circle going round and around.
As the second single to be released in what is purportedly promotion for a new YUNGBLUD album, the previous single, “Hello, Hello, Hello,” was a nine minute rock ballad that had a very clear three act structure for its intro, centerpiece, and outro. Comparing the two together, “Hello, Hello, Hello” was going for a more extravagant sound that was designed to be a re-introduction to YUNGBLUD as an artist, and “Lovesick Lullaby” plays more or less as a return to form. This wouldn’t be considered a knock against him as an artist, but “Hello, Hello, Hello” had an experimentation to it that felt exciting, whereas “Lovesick Lullaby” feels almost to be expected.
