After releasing her second full-length studio album, 'Bird's Eye', in August 2024, Chicago-born R&B/ pop artist Ravyn Lenae has headed to Australia for the first time since 2019, and her fans were more than ready.
As I pulled up to Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, on a dark rainy night (28 May), I was greeted with a line of concert goers that snaked around the corner of the venue and back into a side street. While this caused a moment of stress, the line moved quickly and the bubbly crowd made it an easygoing wait.Relieved to arrive just moments before the opener, we settled in for a beautiful set of R&B tunes as support act SOLI took the stage.
Dressed in a chic all-black outfit, the Melbourne-based singer was accompanied by a wonderful keyboard player who perfectly accompanied her sound with endless tasty chords and phrases.
Set highlights included the slow-jam 'Temporary Low', featuring an epic keys solo that the crowd adored, as well as 'Pray', the most-streamed song on her 2023 EP 'Daily Thoughts', to which SOLI confided her initial reservations to release.
A personal highlight was her pensive, sultry version of the Bobby Caldwell classic 'What You Won't Do For Love'. SOLI closed the set off with a laid-back Afrobeat-tinged number 'Blessed', getting the crowd to sing-along as lights swayed over the stage and the audience.
Ravyn Lenae could not have chosen a better support act. For people that came to hear heavenly vocals, SOLI did not disappoint. Throughout the set she chose tasteful moments to scat and improvise, and her vocal technique was honestly flawless. It was truly an honour and a pleasure to hear her sing live, and I'm sure she acquired a lot of new fans during the performance.
At exactly 9pm on the dot, after the excitement was set to burst and the crowd had packed itself in as close as it could, Ravyn's accompanists – a guitarist and drummer – emerged under blue lights to a dramatic intro track.
After a fun guitar solo, Ravyn emerged in a beautifully structured tan dress to screams and shouts as she kicked off the first tune, the love song '1 Of 1' from her newest album. This tune really showcased her vibrato and vocal playfulness, which were a common theme throughout the performance.
Lenae's stage presence was really relaxed and graceful, but this is no surprise given she started releasing music as a teenager and had already toured as the support for R&B icon SZA by the age of 18.
Lenae told us the next tune was a new song, 'Goodbye 2 You', which I later found out is a secret bonus track on the vinyl version of 'Bird's Eye'. With its whompy bassline, this song featured some really fun, child-like spoken sections that show Lenae for the versatile and playful artist that she is.
Taking some time to properly address the crowd, Lenae reminisced that even though so much has changed since she was last in Melbourne, "the one thing that's remained the same is your love and support for me, and I don't take it for granted".
Introducing the next song as one of her favourites, Lenae performed 'Days', also off her new album. This one has a folky, bossa feel that muses on a relationship. The following tune was 'Dream Girl', a sweet little number that features a catchy verse by Ty Dolla $ign on the recorded version, and ends with a fun Brazilian apito whistle outro.
By this time Lenae was very settled into the set and it was clear she was enjoying herself on stage. Up next was 'The Night Song', a groove about the excitement of dressing up and anticipating going out.
This song was also a vehicle for Lenae to perform some more of her vocal gymnastics, jumping around in her range with incredible ease and fluidity. The crowd sang along, revelling in the song's message of self-love: "I don't wanna be no one but me."
Lenae took another moment to pause and address the audience, musing on how the experience of being a 20-something influenced the writing of her new album. She talked about how it can often feel like you're "questioning your entire existence" and how "getting older is trying to return to and unlearn so much," but that the beauty is in "getting closer to who you are everyday".
She recalled the excitement of dyeing her hair red for the first time – a reference to the cover of her 'Bird's Eye' album, in which she leans over a laundry sink holding dripping red hair.
Playing another track off 'Bird's Eye', Lenae performed the dub-reggae tune 'Candy', going off on a slightly different stylistic path to the rest of the set, before heading back into pop/ R&B territory with 'From Scratch', a song about having someone to stick by your side through life's hardships. The light techs had fun with this song, projecting gorgeous swirling patterns across the roof.
This was clearly a mellow section of the set as we moved into 'Pilot', a song about being 24 and afraid of change, and then 'Skin Tight', a collaboration she released with Steve Lacy on her 2022 album 'Hypnos'. This song further reinforced Lenae's signature vibrato, incredible range and great breath control. 'Skin Tight' was clearly a fan favourite and the end of the song was drowned out with applause.
Bringing the vibe up a bit, Lenae moved onto another track from 'Hypnos', the Kaytranada-produced 'Xtasy', with a sleek but bouncy percussive feel. She continued to turn up the energy by playing one of her most popular tunes, 'Sticky' from her 2018 'Crrush EP'. It was during this song that I found myself thinking of Kate Bush, as Lenae leaned into the theatrics of her high range melodies.
'Venom' from the 'Hypnos' album was the next tune, and it had the crowd moving with its throwback, '80s-pop-style groove. This song had an epic, gospel-style ending with dramatic guitar and drum fills, enhanced by strobing rainbow-coloured lights.
After this extravaganza, Lenae chose to tell the crowd a story about "one of the most important songs" she's ever written – a song about her relationship with her father, symbolised by his failure to turn up to one of her childhood birthday parties.
She described the feeling of "deep disappointment" that she experienced and how years later, she reunited with him over an "awkward lunch". Despite these events, she emphasised the importance of "humanising your loved ones, especially your parents".
Ultimately, this story served to humanise Lenae herself and gave the audience a chance to see the vulnerability beneath the performer's exterior. This backstory provided the perfect bed for the tune 'One Wish', imbuing the lyrics with a new layer of meaning and emotion.
Following this up with 'Love Is Blind' and the poppy sing-along 'Genius', both from the 'Bird's Eye' album, Lenae then left the stage to a thoroughly tight guitar and drum outro. Instantaneous applause broke out, as well as foot-stomping and shouts of "Ravyn! Ravyn!"
Finally, the band came back out and kicked into arguably her most popular tune, 'Love Me Not'. As this song about the dramatic emotions of a hot-and-cold relationship drew to a close, Lenae was given a bouquet of red flowers by some fans. She then thanked the crowd and swiftly left the stage.
It was the perfect short and sweet encore, saving a favourite sing-along song for last and then letting us get on with the rest of our nights.
As a performer, Lenae left nothing to be desired. Her vocal performance, stage presence and physical groundedness were very impressive, and her accompanists only added to this sense of overall competency and confidence. This is a well-oiled machine.
Branching the genres of R&B and folky-pop, Lenae represents the possibilities for artists of our generation as she appeals to the mainstream crowd while keeping hold of the things that make her special.
