The Haunted Youth

The Haunted Youth at Village Underground

The Haunted Youth - the band behind Joachim Liebens - might be the biggest Belgian indie rock sensation of the last few years. After their critically acclaimed debut Dawn of the Freak took Europe by storm, their long-awaited album Boys Cry Too was released on May 8, 2026.

With debut single Teen Rebel, The Haunted Youth quickly became a dream pop phenomenon in Belgium and beyond, with hazy indie textures and melancholic charm winning hearts across the globe. Dawn of the Freak was named album of the week in Rolling Stone France and single Gone single of the year by Studio Brussel in 2022. The band toured relentlessly behind the record, hitting Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Lowlands, Sziget and Iceland Airwaves, and picking up international airplay along the way.

Now there's Boys Cry Too, Liebens'second album. From the towering eight-minute opener in my head (a song that ends with Liebens screaming himself raw amidst howls of feedback), to the final, haunted strum of ghost girl, Boys Cry Too presents a viscerally powerful journey through loss, despair, heartache, rage and hope. It's a record fuelled by emotional turmoil - see deathwish's self-destructive roar or the defiant punk rock crunch of forget me - but one that also reveals a naked vulnerability, reflected in the crystalline beauty of emo song and hurt, and the emotionally raw confessions within Liebens'lyrics.

"The first half of the record is basically how everyone sees a boy when he's heartbroken: he puts his walls up, he's paranoid, he's angry, he's aggressive. But then the second half is this whole other story - it's vulnerable," Liebens says. "I want to show the vulnerable part of men and boys and celebrate it instead of making it this whole stigma that's been going on for so long."

The Boys Cry Too release tour sold 14K+ tickets across Europe, ending in a 4-day sold out run at Cirque Royal in Brussels. In its first week of release, the album was listed number one in Belgium.

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