Ravyn Lenae

In the organizer's words:

When Ravyn Lenae sings, something happens that can hardly be explained, only experienced. Her voice, bright, agile, with an almost weightless presence, does not nestle against the music, but carries it, guides it, sometimes even resists it. With her second album "Bird's Eye", released in summer 2024, it's clear that this young artist from Chicago doesn't just want to renew the genre. She wants to take it to new heights. Born in 1999 into a musical family - her grandfather was a pastor, her mother comes from Panama, where a grandfather also sang in a doo-wop band - Lenae developed her musical expressiveness early on in the church choir and later studied classical music at the Chicago High School for the Arts. But she found her artistic home elsewhere: in the border area between soul, jazz, electronica and R&B. Her first EPs "Moon Shoes" (2016) and "Midnight Moonlight" (2017) were already celebrated for their poetic lyrics and genre-bending productions. With "Crush" (2018), produced by Steve Lacy, she became a shooting star. The debut album "Hypnos" (2022) anchored her firmly in the upper echelons of US R&B artists - with support from Monte Booker, Kaytranada and Fousheé. But "Bird's Eye" is something else. Under the direction of Grammy award-winner Dahi, Lenae looks back in this album at what has shaped her: her home, her upbringing, her musical heritage. At the same time, she looks forward, more musically and emotionally mature than ever before. It is a work full of clear vision, bold production and great features such as Childish Gambino and Ty Dolla $ign. The musician shows self-confident contrasts between melodic vocals and raw electronics. The critics are enthusiastic: NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, all praised the courage, the signature and the voice.
Lenae is part of a new generation that is taking the rigidity out of R&B without losing its soul. In her music you can hear the joy of experimentation of Kelela, the elegance of Brandy, the spiritual depth of Erykah Badu. And yet she remains independent, style-forming, hard to grasp - as if from a bird's eye view: free, high up, always on the move. Anyone who wants to experience Ravyn Lenae live now has the opportunity to do so: She is coming to Cologne for a concert in November. An evening that is not only a must for fans of modern soul music, but for anyone who wants to know where R&B can go in this century.

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