“Medication” by YUNGBLUD

Above is a music video for YUNGBLUD’s song “Medication” in which he talks about the mental health of today and how it is treated.  YUNGBLUD is a young Liverpool musician.  I had the privilege of seeing him yesterday at The Wombats concert at Emo’s as an opener.  He had wicked, wild energy and was a great performer with an adorable accent and look.  Thanks for an incredible show, YUNGBLUD, and for creating music that people can heavily resonate with just like me.  He is paving a path forward for young people just like you and me to use our opportunities to be an advocate for social justice issues like mental health and breaking down the stereotypes regarding it in society today. By using his opportunity of fame and music in popular culture today, he is being a powerful voice in times of trying struggles, especially in the youth of today.

Lyric Genius on Spotify talks about this song and what YUNGBLUD said about the contents of it:

“YUNGBLUD questions modern society’s reliance on prescription drugs on his song “Medication.” He says, “I learned to embrace who I am. I want to be fearless and say what I think and I’m going to be loud about it. This is a metaphor of people in power taking advantage of the young, and I won’t stand by and watch.” YUNGBLUD references The Velvet Underground’s 1967 album “White Light/White Heat.” He is a Yorkshire native Dominic Harrison who dropped out of school at 16 and moved to London to pursue music. He cites N.W.A., Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar as big influences from his childhood. He also takes cues from British rock legends like the Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, and the Rolling Stones. He said this song focuses on an issue he “wanted to talk about for a long time.”  “I wrote it on my first ever trip to New York, and I think that’s influential to its uplifting major sound but hiding darker undertones. I’m told that taking these pills are going to make me better.  But I feel totally upside down, not myself, and I can’t do anything about it. The more I’m out of control, the more anxious I become, so I do self destructive things to make myself feel better.  Society makes us feel that taking drugs is the right thing to do to cover up your ‘abnormal issues’ and obtain a chemical happiness. Growing up in a heavily medicated society, you quickly learn how much we use drugs to distract ourselves from what’s going on in real life. They tell you to seek help about mental health, however when you do, all they do is prescribe medication.  They make out that it’s supposed to help, but to me all it does is numb the issues and not actually face them. It tricks you into feeling that you cannot be inexcusably yourself with your ‘chemical happiness.'”

Some of his elements and sound remind me of Twenty-One Pilots who are a prominently powerful and popular band because their lyrics are so relatable and hit to the core of the youth today.  YUNGBLUD is trying to do the same and accomplishing it, just with not as much fame as TOP yet. He is already gaining fame though as a young, angsty 20 year old who is only 4 months and 5 days older than me which so insane and highly impressive especially the chance he took by dropping out of high school to pursue music.

Some of his lyrics in this song that stand out the most to me and that I relate with most are: “Doctor says that I’m so lonely. A mistake on the painting of my family. Gettin’ drunk at quarter to one. ‘Cause my dad is a geezer and he keys up my mum.
I’m blank why you shouting at me. I just wanna take my, I just wanna take my my medication. I just wanna find my, I just wanna find my motivation. Doctor says, “Don’t fight that feeling”, but my head is stuck to the ceiling. I can’t get it off. You superglued it on. I’m an experiment of young irrelevance. I’m insecure so I got tattoo of an elephant. You try to perceive that you’re so squeaky clean. But that’s not how it works.”

I’ll leave some of my fave songs by him after the songs of his song “Medication.” His full lyrics are: