By Christina Pan
Swedish rapper Yung Lean came to the Anthem on October 19th to cap off his Forever Yung tour, and it was a fine demonstration of his current artistic vision. He kicked the night off with tracks from Jonatan, his latest album, marking a creative leap from his past music. The album deals with a lot more melodic ground and the tracks sound much more vulnerable than his previous music, which had more of a nonchalant, constant motion sort of sensation. His new music resonates differently with a second or third listen. The crowd was rather subdued for the first songs, swaying politely, getting the hang of the night.
Things picked up once he started playing the classics. When “Ginseng Strip” and “Kyoto” came on, the energy completely changed. A mosh pit formed and Lean was feeding off of it, bringing intensity and stamina to his performance. He was stomping around, dancing, rapping with a presence that matched what the crowd wanted. The crowd seemed more mature than your typical mosh pit too – people were into it but not chaotic, there was this sense of respect for the space and for each other while still keeping the energy up.
The staging elevated things. Midway through the set he had this spiked axe that he’d draw over his shoulder. He used a white curtain at the front of the stage and would stand in front of it wearing a spiked helmet, so you’d just see his silhouette against the light. It created this dramatic effect that broke up the set and kept things visually interesting. His all-white outfit the whole night—cargo pants, some kind of military-style top—mixed with the helmet gave off this fusion of militaristic and Prince-like energy that surprisingly worked.
He even included a few false endings leading up to the real finale, with the lights going up and then Lean returning to run through some of his older classics. “Ginseng” is the oldest song of his that we know about and he has been playing it since the age 16. He has a very unassuming baby face, but is able to spit and dance around the stage with genuine authority. The show seemed to be a nice balance between where Jonatan is going and the roots that were built that got everybody out here to begin with.
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