ALBUM: YUNG LEAN "STRANGER"
Following the release of his uniquely peculiar and visually explicit short film of the same title, Swedish Rap and Internet phenom Yung Lean releases his new album Stranger. The stimulating 14 track project is an expansively scintillating and introspective deep dive into Yung Lean's free form, emo-trap hazy sound.
This project feels extremely refined, which is inherently unexpected for an artist like Yung Lean who's enigmatic ethereal coupled with his foreign novice to the culture, driven by his trivial rise, has contributed to his categorical classification as just an "Internet Rapper." But this project immediately sets out to shatter his typecast with the against the grain title track "Muddy Sea" proclaiming Yung Lean's disdain for fame and hunger for creative merit and of course, money.
Stranger plays incredibly well from top to bottom with stand out tracks like "Red Bottom Sky" opting for a systematic approach to harmonizing and records like "Ski Mask" and "Drop it/Scooter" carry the hype. There are the whimsically dark Trap leaning records Yung Lean is know for littered throughout the project, but then from complete left field songs like "Agony" quantize this sort of passionate creative genius that many of his core fans knew he was capable of but the artist could never fully deliver properly on previous releases. This album shows almost every side of Yung Lean and yields the most sophisticated and complete body of work we have received from the rapper to date.
Stream the album below in addition to the short film Stranger, as well. More to come after the DROP.
