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Kyoto (Yung Lean song)

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2013 single by Yung Lean
"Kyoto"
Single by Yung Lean
ReleasedDecember 10, 2013 (2013-12-10)
Recorded2013
GenreCloud rap
Length4:30
LabelRevenue
Songwriter(s)Yung Lean
Producer(s)Yung Gud
Yung Lean singles chronology
"Marble Phone"
(2013) 		"Kyoto"
(2013) 		"Yoshi City"
(2014)
Music video
"Kyoto" on YouTube

"Kyoto" is a single by Swedish rapper Yung Lean released on December 10, 2013. It was self-released prior to his debut studio album Unknown Memory, but did not appear on it. The track was produced entirely by Yung Gud and contains no use of a sample. The music video for "Kyoto" was released on December 10, 2013.

Following a period of growing Internet recognition due to the popularity of Lavender EP and Unknown Death 2002, Yung Lean was drawing anticipation for the release of his debut studio album. "Kyoto" was teased on his Instagram profile and Twitter account before being released to his SoundCloud on December 10, 2013. Currently, the song has fifteen million plays on SoundCloud and twenty million monthly plays on Spotify. On YouTube, the music video has more than fifty million views.

"Kyoto" is an ethereal and expansive beat surrounded by lush synthesizers and heavy reverb. In "Kyoto", similar to other Yung Lean tracks like "Yoshi City" and "Gatorade", Lean's voice is encompassed by the production. Yung Gud built the instrumental around a single vocal take, adding melodies and basslines where he saw fit. The production has received unanimous acclaim for its futuristic-sounding combination of cloud rap and trap music. The New York Times noted "Kyoto"'s production as "keening spooky". "Kyoto" is widely considered by critics and fans alike to be Yung Lean's best song and one of the best cloud rap songs of all time.

Track listing

No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Kyoto"Yung Gud4:30
Total length:4:30

Development

"Kyoto" was created in ten to fifteen minutes, with the hook of the track being built around only one vocal take.

Release

"Kyoto" was considered by The Fader to be Yung Lean's breakthrough track and his most popular song. A music video for the song was filmed in Amsterdam, and Yung Lean recalls a high-budget production company wanting to make a video for the song: "They came up with an idea and I was like, no fuck that, I want quads, I want a car, I want us to be sponsored by Versace and North Face. I was dreaming and making shit up but they came through."

References

  1. "Yung Lean - Kyoto". YEAR0001.
  2. "Yung Lean - Kyoto". SoundCloud.
  3. Shapiro, David (14 July 2014) "Yung Lean, King of the Sad Boys". The New Yorker. Advance Publications. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  4. Friedlander, Emilie (3 July 2014). "Social Anxiety: Yung Lean, the Sad Boys and the Evolution of the Outsider Stance". The Fader.
  5. Tart, Chris (25 April 2015). "10 Essential Yung Lean Tracks". HotNewHipHop.
  6. Price, Joe (23 November 2017). "How Yung Lean Outlived His Viral Moment". Pigeons and Planes.
  7. Shapiro, David (14 July 2014) "Yung Lean, King of the Sad Boys". The New Yorker. Advance Publications. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  8. Friedlander, Emilie (3 July 2014). "Social Anxiety: Yung Lean, the Sad Boys and the Evolution of the Outsider Stance". The Fader.
  9. Bassil, Ryan (28 March 2014). "Yung Lean Is Going to Do Bucket Hats like Mac Miller did The Snapback". Noisey. Vice Media. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
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