Rock Star Refuses More Than Two Vocal Takes: 'After Four, You're Lying'

Yungblud has a hard rule in the studio: he only records his vocals twice.

“I don’t do overdubs for f–king 10 takes,” the 28-year-old rock star told Rolling Stone.

“I sing it twice and I put it together. That’s what I do. I get in and I sing it twice and then goodnight.”

In an industry where artists often chase the “perfect” take through endless retakes and digital polish, Yungblud’s approach is almost radical. For him, emotion has an expiration date.

“There’s a moment when you’ve written it and you get in the booth—there’s a fear, there is the weight of the world, the whole universe looking at you when you f–king stare into that microphone,” he explained. “And after four takes, you’re lying.”

That philosophy also shapes how he thinks about one of music’s most misunderstood tools: Auto-Tune.

Despite being a proven vocalist, Yungblud, born Dominic Harrison, still faces criticism from listeners who assume he relies on digital tricks to carry his voice. He says that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Let me tell you about Auto-Tune,” he said. “You get out what you put in. If you can’t f–king sing, you sound like s–t.”

Yungblud admitted he’ll sometimes use Auto-Tune, but only when it serves the song. For him, it’s not a crutch, but an effect no different than distortion on a guitar or reverb on a drum.

“It’s all about…how the vocal will rub with the f–king violin line,” he said. “When I shut my eyes and it doesn’t irk me, it’s ready to come out. If it irks me, it’s not ready.”

At the core of it all is his belief that music should feel true, not perfect. The nerves in a first take, the cracks in a voice, the rawness of the moment. For Yungblud, that’s where the magic lives. Once that’s gone, he believes, no amount of studio wizardry can bring it back.