Away from questions over gender representation, fans are quick to jump on Reading & Leeds for moving away from it’s traditional rock roots and booking more hip-hop and pop acts. The addition of acts like AJ Tracey, KSI and Yungblud only add fuel to this fire. With each announcement or lineup drop artists, fans and journalists alike have expressed disappointment at the lack of diversity, especially with the amount of music released by women and non-binary artists this year alone.

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A post shared by Reading & Leeds Festival (@officialrandl)

For the fans who are more inclined to enjoy guitar music, Liam Gallagher is wheeled out again to belt out some Oasis classics, but some more exciting prospects are added. Wolf Alice will be fresh from the release of their third LP ‘Blue Weekend’, artists like Nothing But Thieves and Sam Fender will satisfy the bucket-hatted masses: Northampton rapper Slowthai has the capability of blurring the lines between rock and rap, and Easy Life or The Struts will tick some boxes for indie fans.

One of the more exciting additions is Bob Vylan, his unique blend of grime and punk is bound to attract the masses to The Pit Stage. Vylan’s 2020 debut, ‘We Live Here’ was a real standout – he rages at injustices of life and rallies against the Tories in a similar way to IDLES, but Bob does it with his soul via lived experience. Bob Vylan is without a doubt my one to watch for Reading & Leeds this year.

Yungblud teased the arrival of some new material via a post to social media on September 17th. The retro-looking clip featured shots of Yungblud styled in various quirky outfits whilst the singer-songwriter soliloquised the introspective subject, “What does it mean to be weird?”

Continuing the implication towards new music, Yungblud wrote in the caption that “it all begins Thursday.” Yungblud shared the same post to his official Instagram, which has been met with a joyous reception from fans, receiving a whopping 324,000 likes. 

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what does it mean to be weird!? finally, it all begins thursday. it’s here. ill see you there. are u ready?

A post shared by YUNGBLUD (@yungblud) on Sep 15, 2020 at 10:04am PDT

In the video, Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison, questions personhood asking “Is it a name of celebration? Is it a name of pain? I think that decision lies with us and us alone.” The artist then spoke on the importance of self-acceptance, relaying that “The thing about human beings is that we forget that we’re all 15 different people at any one moment. We don’t know which version of ourselves that we’re going to wake up to.”

Yungblud inspires his fans to embrace their unconventionality, regardless of how it present itself, wholly and completely. He closes the encouraging clip with “embrace the strange, celebrate the abnormal and allow every part of yourself to speak, sing and run around in circles…To be weird is to be different and extraordinarily free. To me, to be weird is the best thing you can f****** be”

In a recent interview, Harrison spoke out about his “coming-of-age” second album, which is influenced from popular, adult-reaching TV drama, Skins. According to Harrion, his next album “explores the ideas of identity, of sexuality, of equality, of depression, of anxiety, of life, of love, of heartbreak, of everything…Me and my fan base, we’re coming of age together. I want to do it side by side.”

In other news, Yungblud has been picked to be part of the huge lineup for the 2021 instalment of Reading & Leeds. The long-standing music festival will be headlined by some of Britain’s best acts next year, including Liam Gallagher, rapper Stormzy, indie band Catfish And The Bottlemen and rock legends Queens of the Stone Age. Electronic duo Disclosure and Post Malone will also be performing.

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lifes a tripp , then u die

A post shared by YUNGBLUD (@yungblud) on Sep 10, 2020 at 9:56am PDT

This month, Yungblud collaborated with rock band Bring Me The Horizon for their dynamic new song, Obey. Released on September 2nd, Obey is bursting with heavy guitar riffs and chaotic percussion. The music video for Obey can be watched here.

Known for his socially-commentating lyrics and catchy music, Yungblud is one of the most refreshing young artists today. Yungblud stormed onto the scene with his blinding debut album, 21st Century Liability, back in 2018. Since then, Yungblud’s influence has only grown larger and larger.