YUNGBLUD Was Offered A Record Deal But Only If Won This Singing Competition

YUNGBLUD has always been outspoken about his political views and strives for his music and shows to be as inclusive as possible. During a recent chat with The Who's Roger Daltrey for Rolling Stone, the English rocker revealed that Virgin Records wanted to sign him, but only if he competed in and won The Voice. And that's not all: they also didn't want him singing about politics.

"When I came [to London from Doncaster], I started playing gigs and went to art school for a bit, and I was completely lost..." he recalled. "We put a video on the internet that we’d made, and a young A&R found it and went into Virgin, and then went, 'All right, let’s put you on The Voice.' I was like, 'No f**king way.'”

"I remember them saying, 'We’ll put you on The Voice, and if you win it, we’ll sign you. But you can’t sing about politics' — because I was starting to write about sexuality, fashion, gender … And I just said no," YUNGBLUD continued. "If you say no to a major label, it’s like, 'Oh, s**t, what do I do now?' And I literally just [picked] up my iPhone and was like, 'This is how I feel about the world.' People started responding, and 1,000 followers turn to 10,000 and 20,000."

His approach is clearly working well — YUNGBLUD recently released his third album on Geffen and is prepping a collaboration with pop punk queen Avril Lavigne.