After Changes to Back to the Beginning with the blessing of Ozzy Osbourne and the EP with Aerosmith, Yungblud has established a new collaboration with another big name in rock, this time from the 90s: the Smashing Pumpkins.
A new version of Zombie of the English remade with the American band, in duet with Billy Corgan (see below). It's one of the songs of IdolsYungblud's 2025 album and is nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rock Song category. The original version is accompanied by a video starring Florence Pugh, «a love letter to nurses» and a tribute to the English national health system.
“I wrote it thinking about my grandmother who, after a serious injury and trauma, became a different person than she was,” Yungblud told some time ago Rolling. «It's about the feeling of deterioration, of ugliness, of distancing ourselves from the world and the people we love for fear of being a burden or embarrassing them. We all want someone or something to comfort us, regardless of who we are now or who we will become in the future. But it's fucking scary.”
The song, Yungblud says today, was from the beginning strongly influenced by Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins and had a darker soul than that which emerged from the released version. It could have been heavier, he told Loudwirebut he didn't want it to sound too similar to the Pumpkins. However, the desire to get back to it never went away and he called Corgan to record a new version. “It's a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing. There must be the version full of light, life and optimism, but also this new dark, pessimistic, slightly bitter and aggressive version.” The new one Zombie it was made about ten days after the phone call. The video will also be released this afternoon.
According to Yungblud, he and Corgan are rockers who “people like or don't like and that's not always an easy thing to manage. It can make you feel alone, it can even discourage you if you are a young musician. But, to be honest, I think that's why I'm here, to deal with that bitterness. People don't realize that that negativity dissuades young musicians from even trying.”
Corgan's words as guest on Allison Hagendorf's podcast also encouraged him. «He said something like: there's a boy who has an incredible voice and he's still trying to understand who he is, he shouldn't put limits on his imagination, he should do exactly what he wants». It was also those words that pushed him to work on Idols. «Billy has always been an incredible model in dealing with and not being influenced by chatter and the world, in making art that fully reflects who you are».
