Starz

Starz is the fourth studio album by Swedish rapper and singer Yung Lean. It was released on 15 May 2020 by the label YEAR0001 and was executively produced by Whitearmor. Recording sessions took place in Los Angeles, Sweden and Portugal. Release and promotion On 26 February 2020 Yung Lean released the single "Boylife in EU" and the song and video was met with acclaim. On 27 March 2020 Yung Lean uploaded a 44-second teaser titled "Starz", which featured a mix of new songs and confirmed the release of a new project. Yung Lean was due to start his 'Starz' tour in late March but this was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. On 2 April 2020 Yung Lean streamed a 45-minute concert from the back of a truck in an undisclosed location, the stream featuring a mix of songs from previous works, as well as newly-released "Boylife in EU". On 14 April 2020 the second single from Starz was released, "Violence (+ Pikachu)", the single "Pikachu" was released in full on 29 April 2020. Yung Lean began releasing daily snippets of each song on his social media leading to the album release date, each snippet accompanied by a visual for that song. A video on Instagram of Yung Lean and rapper Playboi Carti working together in a studio led fans to believe Playboi Carti would be a feature on Starz, and the collaboration was subject to much anticipation. A leak of Starz a week before the official release date featured Playboi Carti on the track "Yayo", but the rapper does not feature on the official album release. Yung Lean later clarified that Playboi Carti's label removed his verse from the song. The version of the track containing Playboi Carti's verse remains on vinyl copies of Starz. Critical reception