Jonatan - Yung Lean

By: Evelyn Donnelly

Yung Lean should be known to everyone. An iconic member and creator of Sweden’s prolific rap scene, Yung Lean was born Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996, and he began making rap music as a teenager. He started to become popular when he released his music on Soundcloud, with the music video for his song ‘Ginseng Strip 2002’ going viral on YouTube in 2013. He is often associated with and collaborates with members of Drain Gang, including Bladee, Ecco2K, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor. He is part of another miniature group, Sad Boys, which consists of Lean, Yung Sherman, and Yung Gud, which first formed in 2012 when the teenagers started to make music. He is widely considered a pioneer of cloud rap and has had a large influence on modern rap music, often being cited as an influence by rappers such as Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, and XXXTentacion. Yung Lean has always combined hip-hop and trap with introspective and deeply personal narratives, and his side project jonatan leandoer96 has used alternative and indie rock to portray Lean’s softer side. 

As his fourth studio album and first solo project since 2020’s Starz, Jonatan continues to show a more melancholy and contemplative side of Lean, with a step away from his traditional trap style and a step towards a grimy, shoegaze/alt-rock flavor. It is both faithful to his past work and a rejection of it, and he presents this different project with an attitude that proclaims that he does not aim to please anymore. He has previously dabbled in pop with collaborations like ‘Bliss’ with FKA Twigs and the alternative version of Charli XCX’s ‘360’ along with Robyn. But Jonatan is not pop, and it does not put on airs or attempt to lure the listener in with any glamor or facade. Jonatan might be Lean at his most vulnerable and experimental so far, and it’s an excellent indication of the new creative directions he might take in the future. 

The album begins with the lofty ‘Jonatan Intro’, which leads into his moody twist on ABBA’s classic ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, ‘Might Not B’, which is delivered in his brooding deadpan style. ‘Forever Yung’ was released as a single in late February, and its style along with its music video is bittersweetly uplifting. On first hearing this song when it came out I was pleasantly surprised by its raw and honest message and gentle string-heavy production. Lean sings “Cause you see me up and you see me down / And you see me rise and come up again / Don’t have to watch the world in flames / The mask will break, but not your name”, demonstrating his desire to show the real Lean. The album is full of ups and downs, which is evidenced by the following track ‘Horses’. Lean’s delivery is unlike anything else he has made on this track. It is drawn out and melancholically distanced, and I was struck by how much it reminded me of midwest emo and shoegaze. ‘Paranoid Paparazzi’ is a sad love letter, but the gentle synths that make up the beat give the song a sweet and nostalgic feel. The next track is ‘Babyface Maniacs’, which was also released prior to the album’s full rollout, at the end of March. ‘I’m Your Dirt, I’m Your Love’ serves as the peak of the album, and after ‘Forever Yung’ it’s my favorite track. In an interview with Spotify, Yung Lean also labelled it as his favorite, saying that to him it just makes sense, feels classic, and is timeless. He sings out “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”. The melancholic ‘Teenage Symphonies 4 God (God Will Only)’ follows, then darker, harsher ‘Changes’, with heavy and distorted electric guitar, and then similar ‘Swan Song’. A continued motif on the album is blood and the color red, used to convey the pain and passion that Yung Lean feels and his poetic efforts to express it on this project. A return to rap in ‘Terminator Symphony’ is haunting and gothic, with a hymnal backing track. Yung Lean closes out the album with ‘Lessons from Above’. 

In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper, Yung Lean talked about the album and especially why he titled it Jonatan. He expresses how he has felt stuck creatively recently, and how he had been doing the same thing for so long. Titling the project by his own name felt like a move towards his roots, especially as he has recently moved back to the neighborhood he grew up in, Södermalm, Stockholm, and has tried to live a life of balance. When at home in Sweden he goes to the gym and expresses himself through ceramics making, which helped him when he got clean in 2017. And this is what comes through on Jonatan; raw real existential emotion and pain, but also a hope for the future and joy in the simple things. Jonatan is Lean like he has never been seen before, and it’s a project that truly brings him closer to his devoted fans, who have always resonated with his creative authenticity and will continue to do so now more than ever.