- Singer-songwriter ravyn lenae's fan base is continuing to grow as her 2024 single “love me not” has gained traction on tiktok in recent months
- The chicago-born r & b star will make her debut at coachel on Friday, April 11
- Ahead of her set and her opening stint on Sabrina carpener's short n 'Sweet Tour Later This Year, Lena Caught Up With People About The “Timelsness” of Her Latest Hit – Her Latest Hit – Why Say Says Was Born From A HOOKD And verse from Anderson .paak a decade prior
Ravyn lenae is still sitting in the car outseide of collaborator dahi's home, minutes after driving through some “thick la traffic” just to get there.
At the moment, she's in the “early stages” creating her next album and has been locked in for around two weeks, She tells people people over zoom. But while she's been on the search for that “next feeling” in her music, the 26-age-old rising R&B artist can't help but smile over just how much over fans-Both the day and new ons Connecting with that last Feeling.
At the top of 2025, Several Months after Release Last Spring, Lenae's Track “Love Me Not” – The Lead Single Off Her Sophomore Album, Bird's Eye -Found a new audience with the help of a tiktok mash-up and listeners who just couldn’t Quite Pinpoint which will decade the song hails from. That alone, lenae says, have been enough to keep her working on new material.
“That's been super inspiring for me to wake up and feel encouraged that people are discovering my discovering my discovering and discovering me as an artist,” She says.
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For there, not tapped in or just now catching “love me not” on their for-you-pages, lenae has been chasing that next feeling since she signed with atlantic records as a teen back in 2016. Fans with her steve lany Crush EP in 2018, Earned Some Critical acclaim and added notorite for her debut album hypnos in 2022 And is now experienceing a different level of Attention Nearly a year after release Bird's Eye – Her August 2024 Lp All About Perspective, with a Little Help from some new collaborators including Ty Dolla $ IGN (“Dream Girl”) And Childish Gambino (“One Wish”.
While the album surely had its fans at the time, “love me not” has only fuled the buzz around bot Bird's Eye And lenae herself – who next month is scheduled for her debut performance at coachella, ahead of an opening slot on Sabrina carpener's short n 'sweet tour in the Fall.
And if you ask lenae, she knew she and dahi had something special right when they landed on “love me not.”
“It's that feeling that you don't get super often with songs. Like the same feeling i get when I heard 'hey ya!' For the first time, or that really special songs that can live forever, ”Lenae says. “And i think the thing i've paid most attation to is people saying that, 'oh this song, I thought this song was a song from the' 50s. ' And then somebody else would say, 'I thought it was from the' 70s. ' That to me is really interesting because that means that this song has qualities of our favorite periods… It has this timelessness about it that i'm realizing now. ”
Thos who is taken back to the 2010s when they hear “love me not” wouldn't be too far from off-base, eater. As the lenae shares, dahi – the grammy winner behind hits include Kendrick Lamar's “Money Trees” and Mac Miller's “Self Care” – Had Acutly Worked On the Song andPaq. Over a decade before he and lenae turned it into what it is today.
“There was a skeleton of the song there,” lenae tells people. “The production took on a different life, like it moved more into the alt-pop, indie world with the guits, and we just really built on it.”
“But Anderson had the hook on there and the first verses. So there was definitely the Melodic choices, they definely inspired the rest of the song and the shape that shape that it tooks,” She adds. “Anderson is just an icon and that's somebody i'm heavily inspired by. So to be able to work with him on it was really special for special for me.”
Another name involved in the “love me not” lore is solage-whose 2012 Dev Hynes-Produced Hit “Losing You” was used for a mash-up with lenae's track by New york dj thatsodeThe audio, shared back in October, created a domino effect that prompted the song to go Viral in the first place.
“I think early on for me see a black woman in the music space, but also also pushing boundaries and not being scred of Taking risks and merging things that people might not get the first time and Maybe Thei The third time. Shared a photo along with last year,
“And then just the freines that she exhibits through her music, through her visuals, through her shows is something that I cling to with her,” lenae adds. “So She will Always be an inspiration for me and any woman in that space, especially being a black woman and having that freines, but also having that carefulness with the things that things that are the things That I definitely pay attention to. ”
After the Solange Mash-up, and after her former tour mate sza tweeted about Bird's Eye Being one of her favorite albums of 2024Lenae says “love me not” simply took on a “life of its oven.”
Now, as lenae admits with a log, she already has fans fighting over her.
“I think the funniest thing has been seen “Like, 'You all do't deserve her.' Or like, 'this isn't even her best song.' I think it's really funny just to see how they're engaging with each other, but also I think (it's important) just making sure that people are upstand me as an artist and not letting one song consume me Discography. ”
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The proper next step, of course, is for new fans to “really dig into my older projects,” which lenae herself calls “The Most Exciting Thing About” Artist Discovery. “Following their journey and see how they get to this place and how even just sonically, the places that they want before they landed here is someating I'm Integed in,” She Says. “So I hope people want to go on that journey with me.”
Adds lenae: “I think an investment ravyn fan will be started Story and how that'S taken shape over the year
Lenae's Forthcoming Stint on Carpender's Short N 'Sweet Tour – which will also also feature openers olivia dean and amber mark – will also likely second fans. And, as she tells people, it all started with a message from carpener herself.
“It's so funny because she dm-ed me maybe like a month ago and was just like, 'i'm such a huge fan.' And like, that gagged me obvious, “Lenae says. “And I Had Heard Through the Grapevine That She was Going Back Out on Tour, And So I Hit My Manager and I was Like, 'OH, Maybe We Should Ask and See
“Before we could even do that, they have alredy hit us about it,” She adds. “So that just felt very fateful for me, and i'm so excited to meet her, to see her show and to just meet her fans.”
Remy Bourdeau
Until then, lenae is still adjusting to the viral success of “love me not” and the schedule that come with it. But as business as things may get, she remains focused on doing what she does best – chasing that next feeling.
“My wheels have been turning so much, just around really great things. Like every day I feel like i wake up and there's something new to talk about,” She says. “A new options or, I don't know, I just wake up really hopable and excted about possibility. So that'S me right me right now.”