Genealogy Tree by Willow Bright

Willow Bright

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:18:19 UTC

YUNGBLUD

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:20:01 UTC

Through Yungblud's use of combining the punk, hip hop, and rock genres, he creates a unique mixed sound that influences my delivery, helping me emphasise my lyrics, causing me to establish more of an attitude when I sing and play my guitar. Harrison addresses various social themes throughout the majority of his music, approaches gender issues head-on and very explosively by utilising the punk sound. Adopting this approach in my writing techniques, it makes me more of the value and weight of the words an artist can have. Further, growing up in Doncaster, England, Harrison harnesses the grit and spirit of being an Englishman into his songs. He transfers his energy, whether anger or frustration, into his music, thus creating a sound that cannot go unheard. Through this, Yungblud encourages me to be louder and more unforgiving in conveying my message and music.

KESHA

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:20:36 UTC

With her artistic demeanour, Kesha influences me by constantly experimenting with new sounds (specifically, her ability to blend electropop, rock, rap, and country), lyrics, and stage presence/persona. Kesha inspires me to continuously improve my vocal ability as she pushes past boundaries and does not limit herself to one distinct way of singing. Overall, Kesha is one of my biggest musical inspirations because of her ability to challenge and stay true to herself no matter what is thrown her way. Kesha’s resilience and artistic talent inspire me daily to be a better musician.

The Clash

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:22:46 UTC

The Clash heavily influenced Yungblud’s sound of being loud and untameable. With Harrison's desire to be seen and heard, it can be identified that he applied the same rebellious energy and bold attitude to his stage presence/persona (Gilbert, 2023). Following a similar protest mantra, Yungblud was inspired by the Clash’s ability to discuss prohibited themes in their song writing. As a result, this encouraged Yungblud to craft songs with more direct and blunt lyrics (Gilbert, 2023). The Clash encouraged Harrison's messy and all-over-the-place artistic flair. Yungblud stated in a Teen Vogue Interview 2020, “I think that's the epitome of punk rock; it's not just playing loud instruments and wearing exploited t-shirts. It’s literally, it just takes one person to go, “Hang on, I’m f***ing angry, and I’ve got something to say.”

The Cure

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:23:07 UTC

Robert Smith maintained a gothic androgynous style that echoed in Yugblud's appearance as he adopted Smith’s similar black eyeliner and red lipstick look. Due to Yungblud’s environment, with the people around him struggling to deal with his ADHD (Smith, 2020), Harrison found himself drawn to music that “made him feel like he could express himself without falter, without conforming” (Starkey, 2022). As a result, Yungblud was inspired by The Cure, more specifically, Robert Smith’s (lead singer) ability to remain authentic and unforgiving in expressing oneself. Not only did The Cure inspire Yungblud in his presentation but also through their song writing. Through the influence of punk (McIntyre, 2023). The Cure brought other methods of conveying a tough message to light through catchy melodies rather than following the traditional slow, sad song template.

Eminem

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:23:23 UTC

Eminem’s philosophy of following your artistic flow regardless of whether it followed the rules was adopted by Yungblud. Ultimately fuelling Harrison’s fiery demeanour in crafting his music and messages. Yungblud discusses in an interview with Teen Vogue in, 2020 that what drew him to Eminem was his flow and his ability to “find these pockets that don't abide by a rule”. Like Eminem, Yungblud maintained a similar approach of not conforming to the traditional song writing methods. Yungblud was inspired by Eminem’s bold attitude of saying whatever he wanted with laced humour. Thus, a sense of fearlessness is generated throughout Yungblud's songs (Detroit Historical Society, 2024).

Madonna

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:24:29 UTC

As a woman in the music industry, when MTV first emerged, Madonna fully utilised her spotlight by wearing daring clothing causing people to stop, look and listen to what she had to say. This can be seen in her reveal of wearing a pale pink conical bra (Fraser, 2023) during her ‘Blonde Ambition Tour’. As a result, Madonna inspired Kesha’s unforgiving and bold mode of self expression which can be seen to have been translated into Kesha’s work, with her own “out there” appearance and rebellious manner.

Dolly Parton

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:26:35 UTC

Most of Kesha’s country inspiration is derived from her deep love of Dolly Parton (Weinflash, 2022). Her love of Parton see’s its origins due to the fact that Kesha’s mother co-wrote a song called Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You), which was the No.1 hit from Dolly Parton’s album “Dolly, Dolly, Dolly” in 1980 (Tingle, 2017). Among many other musicians, such as Patsy Cline, Parton was known for "pioneering the interface between country and pop music styles" (Gorlinski, 2024). Thus, Kesha was influenced to experiment continuously with different styles of music. As a result, this led Kesha to craft a unique fusion of electronic dance beats with catchy pop and country melodies.

The Beach Boys

1032534_2_2 — 2024-02-08 04:27:42 UTC

Featuring in Kesha’s song “Resentment”, Brian Wilson is referred to as “one of her (my) personal musical heroes” (Dzurillay, 2023). Consequently, Kesha incorporated The Beach Boys' similar production methods of experimenting with “exotic instruments” to create a sound as distinct as Brian Wilson’s harmonic synthesis (Enos, 2023). Further, the Beach Boys influenced Kesha through their unmistakable use of vocal harmonies, applied with doubletracking, which was a technique pioneered by Brian, the main songwriter (Paese, 2022). Thus, this approach can be detected in several of Kesha’s songs, such as “C’mon,” “Chasing Thunder,” and “Bastards,” ~~etc~~. Like the Beach Boys, Kesha crafted a signature sound that set her apart from other popular artists whilst simultaneously reflecting the popular culture of the early 2000s. Kesha mixed a heavy synthesised sound into her music, hoping to be dubbed, like The Beach Boys, as "the California sound' during that time (Paese, 2022).