Chicagoan R&B singer Ravyn Lenae has consistently remained a cult favorite, while her contemporaries, including SZA, H.E.R., and Summer Walker, have become bona fide pop stars. However, with her second album “Bird’s Eye,” Lenae’s efforts to push the boundaries of pop R&B are finally receiving wider recognition. Lenae generates buzz with her soft and furtive style, similar to Aaliyah or Billie Eilish, and has been releasing music since 2015, culminating in her Steve Lacy-produced “Crush” EP. Lenae’s debut album, “Hypnos,” released in 2022, was auspicious, if occasionally timid, but with “Bird’s Eye,” it feels like the artist has come into her own.
Lenae tapped California hip-hop stalwart DJ Dahi, who is renowned for his productions with Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and Drake, to contribute as an executive producer on the album. Through his contributions, the album features shiny synths, snappy drums, and flair that complement Lenae’s smooth and dreamy aesthetics. Lenae opens “Bird’s Eye” with “Genius,” a mercurial throwback to her funky single, “Sticky,” released back in 2017 which is about simply getting by in life. However, Lenae presents something entirely unpredictable in the album through a transformative opus of imaginative songs about emotional perspective.
Lenae experiments with sonic textures in her avant R&B, incorporating instrumentation from diverse genres rather than just merely reproducing them. The album’s theme is emotional perspective, and Lenae’s imaginative songs are akin to fragmentary conversations or memories. Lenae delivers some of the most moving and poignant moments on recent single “One Wish,” where she addresses an absent father, played by the seemingly retired Childish Gambino, crooning, “Called me on my birthday / I thought you’d be on your way / Candles burned down to the cake / Still not seeing your face” with wistful Motown harmonies. Lenae goes reggae on “Candy,” adding bursts of rock guitar elsewhere, and gets indie on “Love Me Not” – a collaboration with Anderson .Paak, where she abandons those old hushed vocal tones as she ponders romantic commitment, which feels like Amy Winehouse fronting the B-52s. Finally, with Janet Jackson’s fabled producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on board, “Dream Girl” is Lenae’s foray into Kali Uchis-esque bossa nova, although Ty Dolla $ign, the album’s only other guest feature, feels superfluous.
Overall, “Bird’s Eye” sees Lenae expand her musical repertoire and explores new musical landscapes, which is an ambitious accomplishment. The album is set to release on August 9 under Atlantic Records
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