On his main account, Yung Lean raps deliriously about racking up stacks and pills, doing acid at 7/11, being haunted by nightmares of furniture coming alive over starry, frenetic beats. But his alt, jonatan leandoer96, is reserved for more stripped-down, intimate cuts, where he’d sing about dying for someone’s love over a gentle raindrop of an instrumental. Over the last few years, these two sides of himself have increasingly fused into one. Yung Lean is now focused on matrimony, kids, fraternal devotion, the simple bliss of an understated, mundane life. “The party is officially over,” he declared in a recent viral clip. “The sheer Diddy-ness of things” has gotten out of control.
So “Forever Yung,” the lead single off his upcoming album, Jonatan, holds a funeral for his old lifestyle and self. This easily could’ve been a jonatan leandoer96 track, or even a Sparks song, for that matter. As much as it announces a persona evolution, it sounds like he’s in sonic stasis: He sings about going through ups and downs, being reborn like a Phoenix from the ashes, over a jaunty yet rigid one-note bassline that conjures up a forced march to salvation. In the video, he buries a crown-wearing double of himself in a coffin, waving to a mass of people who’ve gathered to watch, then driving away.
A decade ago, Lean was riding a motorcycle across a mud-drenched cemetery, droning balefully about waking up sticky with liquor, hands filled with money and Xans. I miss the thrilling sound of that era, but it’s sweet to see him coming to peace with his demons, however long that lasts.
