Yungblud: I've thought about becoming a politician

Last year, he launched his own festival, BludFest, in Milton Keynes, which was criticised by some after long queues and a lack of water caused fans to pass out and miss the concert.

With tickets sold for £73.25 for this year's festival in the Buckinghamshire city, Yungblud said he felt more expensive events had become "a thing of privilege" that "do not represent real people".

"I cannot play a festival where it's like 800 quid a ticket," he said, adding that artists like Coldplay were welcome to join the event.

The pop-punk musician, known for songs including Cotton Candy and Fleabag, has had two number one albums in the UK chart with Weird! in 2020 and his self-titled album in 2022.

But in the interview, he reflected on how difficult it was to be a young person today with "so much anger" and hate in the comments of social media videos.

Asked what his hardest moment had been, he said: "I'll never forget, someone came to me in a pub in east London and just was like, 'your music is terrible and I don't believe you and I hate it'."

He said he was left feeling "like a wounded animal" where you "try and lick yourself and bring yourself back to it".

Whereas back then, aged 22, he responded with a tentative "oh, yeah, cool like", now he feels confident not to "give them the power of a reaction".

Ahead of the release next month of his new album, Idols, he said one of the themes behind it was to "embrace my masculinity, which is a crazy thing to say in 2025".

"Honestly I am so proud of what we've created," he said of his young fanbase.