Born Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad, Lean was 16 when he joined producers Yung Gud and Yung Sherman in the Sad Boys around 2012. A year later, the crew was releasing tracks under Yung Lean's name, including "Ginseng Strip 2002," which earned two million views after it became a viral hit. The Unknown Death 2002 mixtape landed that same year, along with the Lavender EP, which gave "Ginseng Strip 2002" an official release. Lean's debut full-length, Unknown Memory, followed in 2014 and reached the U.S. R&B/hip-hop, rap, and heatseekers charts. The effort was supported by a tour of Europe and North America. A year later, he cut the "Crystal Clear Ice" single for the Adult Swim label and issued his sophomore album, Warlord. That same year, he released the Frost God mixtape, which featured an appearance by A$AP Ferg on "Crystal City."
In 2017, Yung Lean began his shift away from the darker side of cloud rap into more overtly mainstream pop-trap territory on his third album, Stranger, which reached number 18 on the Sverigetopplistan chart. 2018's Poison Ivy mixtape was a return to the raw, home-recorded tone of early Sad Boys material. In May 2020, just after the Tribeca Film Festival premier of the documentary Yung Lean: In My Head, Lean issued his fourth album, Starz. The full-length split the difference between the bleak cloud rap of Lean's earliest work and a more polished, pop-friendly approach to production. While the title track credits elements to Ariel Pink, there were no other features on the album. The 2022 commercial mixtape Stardust, however, involved the likes of FKA twigs, Skrillex, and Bladee as Lean continued to balance his idiosyncrasies with mainstream appeal. ~ David Jeffries & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi