Born Stephen Feigenbaum, Johan Lenox grew up in Boston. When he was in first grade, he began fooling with the family's piano just for fun, and his folks responded by signing him up for piano lessons. He quit after a year, but when Lenox's dad got him an album of music from the Indiana Jones movies, that led him to see composer John Williams lead the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he became fascinated with symphonic music. Lenox took up studying composition, and won several awards in competitions for young writers. His exposure to contemporary pop music was minimal, but his perspective changed when he heard Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at a party while tripping on LSD. Lenox was impressed that music as bold and challenging could appeal to a mainstream audience, and he started to stage performances that blended string sections with pop instrumentation and dancers. In 2016, a friend who led an orchestra approached Lenox about creating an orchestral piece that combined Kanye West's music with that of Ludwig van Beethoven. The program, Yeethoven, was a major popular success that received extensive coverage in the music press.
The media attention Yeethoven attracted led to Vic Mensa approaching Lenox about writing string arrangements for his debut album, 2017's The Autobiography. This gave Lenox his entry into the world of hip-hop and popular music, and soon he was working as a producer, arranger, and songwriter with artists like Lil Nas X, Big Sean, Selena Gomez, Travis Scott, and Kanye West himself, creating an orchestral section for "We Got Love."
Having made a name in the music business, Lenox took his first steps as a solo artist, writing, producing, and singing songs under his own name. His 2017 EP Wilds found Lenox filtering his compositional ideas through electronic-based production informed by adventurous pop and hip-hop frameworks. His 2019 single "Everybody's Cool But Me" was released in several versions, most of them using electronic instrumentation, while one was arranged for an eight-piece cello section. The song would become the title track on Lenox's first full-length album, released in 2019, earning enthusiastic reviews. Lenox's second LP, Cancel the Party, followed in 2020, and included the track "No One Wants to Dance."
Though his solo career was on the rise, Lenox was still in high demand as a producer and string arranger, and his client list in 2020 and 2021 included Teyana Taylor, Machine Gun Kelly, SAINt JHN, Peach Tree Rascals, and FINNEAS, among others. As busy as he was, Lenox continued to find time to craft music of his own, and in 2022 he brought out his third album. Titled WDYWTBWYGU ("What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up"), the material was dark and introspective, often touching on themes of confusion, alienation, and fractured self-image. Despite the album's personal tone, it included contributions from a number of hip-hop and R&B notables, including Cousin Stizz, Ant Clemons, Mr. Hudson, Thouxanbanfauni, and KayCyy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi