Yung Lean

One of the first Swedish rappers to break around the globe, Yung Lean is a highly influential figure of the cloud rap and emo rap scenes. He kicked off his career with the Sad Boys, a crew with a name that reflected the melancholic nature of Lean’s music. Substance abuse and mental illness were frequent topics in both Yung Lean’s early music and life outside of the studio as he grappled with addiction and bipolar disorder. The intensity of his life bled into the bleak atmospheres of his music on early solo records and has carried over to more commercially geared efforts like 2017′s Stranger (a number 18 hit in Sweden), 2020′s Starz, and the guest-loaded 2022 mixtape Stardust. He gradually began devoting more time to making rock and singer/songwriter music as Jonatan Leandoer96, though he continued using the Yung Lean handle for releases like 2024′s Psykos, a collaboration with Bladee owing more to post-punk and alternative rock than rap. Born Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad, Lean was 16 when he joined producers Yung Gud and Yung Sherman in the Sad Boys around 2012. A year later, the crew was releasing tracks under Yung Lean’s name, including “Ginseng Strip 2002,” which earned two million views after it became a viral hit. The Unknown Death 2002 mixtape landed that same year, along with the Lavender EP, which gave “Ginseng Strip 2002” an official release. Lean’s debut full-length, Unknown Memory, followed in 2014 and reached the U.S. R&B/hip-hop, rap, and heatseekers charts. The effort was supported by a tour of Europe and North America. A year later, he cut the “Crystal Clear Ice” single for the Adult Swim label and issued his sophomore album, Warlord. That same year, he released the Frost God mixtape, which featured an appearance by A$AP Ferg on “Crystal City.” In 2017, Yung Lean began his shift away from the darker side of cloud rap into more overtly mainstream pop-trap territory on his third album, Stranger, which reached number 18 on the Sverigetopplistan chart. 2018′s Poison Ivy mixtape was a return to the raw, home-recorded tone of early Sad Boys material. In May 2020, just after the Tribeca Film Festival premier of the documentary Yung Lean: In My Head, Lean issued his fourth album, Starz. The full-length split the difference between the bleak cloud rap of Lean’s earliest work and a more polished, pop-friendly approach to production. While the title track credits elements to Ariel Pink, there were no other features on the album. The 2022 commercial mixtape Stardust, however, involved the likes of FKA twigs, Skrillex, and Bladee as Lean continued to balance his idiosyncrasies with mainstream appeal. He also veered away from rap with his material under the name Jonatan Leandoer96, including the 2023 album Sugar World, which was more of a singer/songwriter record. Psykos, Yung Lean’s first full collaboration with Bladee, arrived in 2024, exploring indie rock and post-punk influences. ~ David Jeffries & Neil Z. Yeung