jonatan leandoer96 (Yung Lean) - Sugar World ALBUM REVIEW

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American Idol-ass cover.


I guess I’d say I’m a fan of Yung Lean. Ever since getting into that Drain Gang circle with Bladee and Ecco2k, I’ve always liked what I’ve heard from Yung Lean’s output, even if his last project Stardust didn’t really live up to the other things I’ve heard. However, I was completely out of the loop on this side project of his, jonatan leandoer96. Out of the other songs I’ve heard from this that I checked out after this project, it has more of an indie folk edge to it. On this album, Sugar World, Lean takes a turn into Bowie-esque glam rock. It’s certainly an interesting experiment that piqued my interest, so let’s ride off into Sugar World.

I should start off by saying that I’m a fan of artistic risks, with Lil Yachty’s most recent project being the biggest example in recent memory, and while Sugar World is an overall enjoyable listen, there are just a couple of things holding it back from greatness to me. Lean’s vocals are pretty inconsistent in quality throughout the album, but at the best moments like “Blue Light” and the title track, he sounds great and are some of my favorite tracks of his. At the lowest points of the album, though, it is borderline unlistenable. Luckily, the album’s only 8 tracks and there are more highs than lows. The production here by Frederik Valentin is fantastic across the board as well. Every instrumental is just filled with life and lifts this album up by quite a bit.

Even if it isn’t perfect, Sugar World is a pretty fun album. Yung Lean, under the jonatan leandoer96 name, brings a new side to his music and made an exciting new project for him. I really hope these risks are in his next projects because it just helped me appreciate him as an artist.


7/10


Listen here

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Sugar World is a YEAR0001 release.

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