The sense, the tone, and the language are elements completely essential to the final form of an art piece. Cultural context usually intertwines with these elements to produce conventions; we relate to film, music, or contemporary art in a space in which certain codes suit us. And this is unavoidable when talking about Yung Lean; it is difficult to measure his popularity in terms of place, age or musical preferences (and curiosity).
He and Drain Gang are absolute pioneers of the cloud rap genre; since 2012 they have been creating another kind of rap, a strange narrative that pertains to and explains many of Gen Z’s experiences and cultural cues. But at his epic house show at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena, Yung Lean Live From Globen, he gathered sixteen thousand fans to sing like a classic rockstar would. And after ten albums of successfully experimenting with sounds, challenging popular hip hop’s sense of rhythm and his unique, understated style, Jonatan, his new album, is where we are: a complete change of scenery.
Yung Lean is a rockstar; and the problem with not being read as such is not that he doesn’t behave like one. The reason is that the term ‘rockstar’ hasn’t aged in years (and that makes sense when you read it twice). Since bursting onto the scene in 2013 with his twice-viral Ginseng Strip 2002, which was TikTok’s No. 1 song worldwide in 2022, the now 28-year-old artist has had a surprisingly unique decade-plus career, not only for his international success as a Swedish rapper, but also for the collaborations he’s forged and the sheer potency of his artistry. Having collaborated with mainstream rappers like Travis Scott, alt-pop stars like FKA Twigs, and avant-garde experimentalists like Dean Blunt, Yung Lean has explored the boundaries of genre with projects like JonatanLeandoer96 and his punk band Död Mark.
With Jonatan, he makes his most direct artistic statement to date, one that synthesises his years-long career into a singular and powerful statement of intent. Lean has been in the orbit of PC music and Charli xcx in recent years, but his sound makes him different and not as southern as others. Cloud rap has made hip hop sound weird, as if rap music made since Drain Gang has rewound too quickly into the future. There’s decadence in these kinds of pop songs, but they're constructed in a way that doesn’t fit sonically with what our ears are used to, so it’s a challenge for most people. But really fun and interesting.
If Yung Lean's previous work was dark, aggressive, and more industrial through his exploration as a tragic star, in Jonatan the darkness doesn’t disappear, but transforms into contemplation, with a more minimalist and emotional approach. This album places Lean in the difficult step of making an almost retrospective album, twelve years into his career and after recovering from alcohol and kratom addiction.
The single Forever Young was the first song we heard from Jonatan, a few months ago. A very ‘happy and sad at the same time’ track; it is playful, childlike, hopeful, and a lot of fun. The video was shot by Aidan Zamiri in Budapest, and Yung Lean invited his fans, friends, and family to a celebration of over a decade in music. This is probably one of the most positive and optimistic tracks on the album, describing with some irony a moment of resignation in his life.
Throughout the LP, Lean reflects on his life and expresses his emotions, enhanced by beautiful orchestration on most of the songs that elevate the quality of the record. A voice shouts “Jonatan!” at the beginning of the album, in the same way that a flashback is usually depicted in films, as violins begin a dramatic introduction that will expand into some operatic moments.
Babyface Maniacs, the second single, takes the lead for some of the tales we are about to hear: “We're on the run, come on and grab your gun, let’s have some fun.” It’s quite interesting how the use of the plural is heavily present throughout the whole album, a nod to his mates with whom he has been making music all these years (Bladee, Gud, Ecco2K, and others). The video is a good metaphor for the main story in this album: the representation of both the life and career of Yung Lean. After some arrow shots, he keeps running and his clothes are a reflective power that shades light and makes him able to keep going. There is some rare beauty in decadence, a generational sign of the times.
Teenage Symphonies 4 God (God Will Only) is another standout song in Jonatan: “I’m resilient, not tough, you hearing us.” Cloud rap was always about another type of masculinity, one in which feelings are more open, as the sadness expressed here exceeds the need for aggressiveness or material possessions. Horses sounds like an anthem, pushing the desire to “leave the world behind, let dreams come true” and “run free” inside of a country-rock fantastic construction, and becoming one of the best songs in Jonatan. You can sense the cinematic quality to the album as some songs are infused by Americana — the imaginary of classic rockstars from the USA that evokes the feeling of the main character that has lived a lot. My Life takes the same road, he even sings “I’m bleeding, though I’ll never leave again / Tied to my soul and nose, life of a rolling stone / Rolling, back to you, I know,” like a proper country anti-hero.
In Changes he speaks about the divine and the human, reflecting on how simple and complex life is (and using contemporary references like “get money or die, die tryin’”, a reference to 50 Cent’s album Get Rich or Die Tryin’). The immense I’m Your Dirt, I’m Your Love, top moment in Jonatan, is a love song with an incredible chorus, an honest and messy vision of a relationship that pushes for its success: “I’m your dirt, I’m your love / You’re my last and my first one / I’m the ash in your lungs / So let’s burn down the sun.”
Paranoid Paparazzi gets Lean closer to his most known style of rapping, serene and thoughtful but with a poetic and biographical narration (“Fed me with pills and lullabies every night / Dissolved in front of your enchanting thighs”) that moves in a spectrum in which you would find the styles of Bob Dylan, Lena Dunham, and Lil Yachty, all together.
Synths and trumpets announce that we are reaching the final part of Jonatan. “No secret when the swan sings / Like a swan sings before it dies,” sings Yung Lean in Swan Song, referencing the expression used for a final performance, work, or achievement before a person retires or ends their career. It will probably only click with some people, but there is so much sense of humour in the album. Healthily painting a dramatic picture with irony of the main character’s struggles. A comeback, operatic return from the death of the swan showing resistance by using “Terminator life skills” in Terminator Symphony.
And a final blues, Lessons From Above, a song where an acoustic guitar and a violin rub against each other to present a summary of experiences, and a profound mystical conclusion: “You don't really want nothing to do with it / Lessons from above, lessons drawn in blood,” until we hear the same screams form the intro calling him: “Jonatan! Jonatan!” There can be so much life inside a flashback.
Yung Lean is in great shape. In Jonatan, he mixes up his traditional songwriting with powerful production, honesty, humour, and hope to play on genres and create an album that lives up to his twelve-years-long music career. Mainstream gets closer to him, not the way around, as he leaves the listener at ease and wondering where he would go next, musically. With this album, Lean walks a route onto new sounds that fit like a glove where identity, introspection, and inner struggle show an unusual maturity, and still contribute to the cultural conversation for the sad boys of his generation. This may not be the first album to recommend someone to discover Yung Lean; however, his discography wouldn’t have just become as rich without its existence.