Yungblud releases fierce new song ‘The Emperor’

Yungblud has shared ‘The Emperor’, a track from the recently announced deluxe bundle of his self-titled album that arrives next month.

‘The Emperor’ is a spirited new song that has been selected as the official 2022 anthem for ESPN’s College Football Season.

It follows previous tracks ‘The Funeral’, ‘Don’t Feel Like Feeling Sad Today‘, and ‘Memories‘ (feat. Willow), all of which appear on his album that drops on September 2 [pre-order]. ‘The Emperor’, however, will only feature on the deluxe bundle release.

“It’s a massive honour to have my song ‘The Emperor’ chosen as the anthem for ESPN’s college football season,” Yungblud (real name Dominic Harrison) said in a statement.

“I wrote this song when I was seventeen, it was just an outburst of unfiltered energy that I knew would have its moment one day,” he continued.

“I played it live for years but never found the right time to release it until now. College football is such a massive part of American culture and all I ever want to do is bring energy to people, so I can’t wait for the song to bring that energy to the fans and the players at the games all season.”

The news follows Harrison sharing a new version of ‘Don’t Feel Like Feeling Sad Today’. It’s been dubbed the “sad version” and is much more downbeat than the original – the accompanying video of which sees Yungblud strumming an acoustic guitar.

Speaking to NME recently, Harrison said his new album was simply titled ‘Yungblud’ as an act of self-empowerment.

“The name Yungblud, as it’s gotten bigger, has been twisted relentlessly as every single person has had an opinion on who I am. This album is not a ‘woe is me’ rockstar story; it’s about me reclaiming my own name, and humanising the caricature that everybody else has made me into,” he said.