Ravyn Lenae Artistfacts

January 22, 1999
Ravyn Lenae is an American singer-songwriter whose music blends neo soul, R&B, electronic, jazz, psychedelia, and hip-hop. She cites Erykah Badu as one of her main influences and has been praised for her fluid vocals and poetic lyrics.
Her full name is Ravyn Lenae Washington. She is of Panamanian descent through her mother. Her maternal grandfather was part of a doo-wop group in Panama, and her grandfather Richard Williams served as a pastor for 30 years, which influenced her early musical development through church participation.
Ravyn Lenae grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a family deeply involved in church and gospel music. She sang in her church choir and developed her voice early through gospel and soul influences. Lenae has spoken about feeling a natural pull toward creativity from a young age.
Lenae started writing her own songs in middle school before attending the Chicago High School for the Arts, where she studied classical music and later jazz. As a high school sophomore, she spent $300 on a studio session that resulted in her debut single, "Greetings." Lenae balanced her rising music career with school, often missing months at a time for tours and recording, but she still managed to graduate high school in 2017.
She knew she wanted to pursue music professionally when she was in high school and her songs got a good response on SoundCloud.

Lenae told Billboard: "That made me feel like, "Oh, this is something that not just resonates with me, but people actually like this and they're looking forward to the next thing that I do." I think that gave me an inkling."

When Noname took her on tour in 2017, Lenae realized music was something she could pursue full time. She'd be doing something she loves while paying her bills too.
Lenae is a founding member of the Chicago-based music collective Zero Fatigue, alongside Monte Booker and Smino. This collective has been influential in Chicago's alternative R&B and hip-hop scene.
She released her debut EP, Moon Shoes, in 2015 (independently, later reissued by Atlantic Records), followed by Midnight Moonlight (2017) and Crush (2018, produced by The Internet's Steve Lacy). Lenae's debut album, Hypnos, was released in 2022, and her sophomore album, Bird's Eye, which includes her breakthrough single "Love Me Not," came out in 2024.
She enjoys taking walks, taking herself on solo dates, and spending time alone with her thoughts. "I do a lot of things on my own because I like to be alone with my thoughts since I'm never alone throughout the week," she told Blurred Culture.
Lenae has a tattoo of a French proverb: "Rêve ta vie… vis tes rêves," which means "Dream your life, live your dreams."

"This specific proverb spoke to me because I was having a hard time believing in my craft, she told Office magazine. "I was faced with the decision of going to college after high school or devoting my time solely to music. A huge part of being an artist is accepting the risks that accompany choosing a non-traditional lifestyle. The tattoo stamped my decision to follow my dreams, trusting all things will fall into place."
When she was in high school, Ravyn Lenae thought about going to college and studying chemistry, picturing herself in a lab coat mixing formulas. Music eventually won out, but she still loves the idea of experimenting. Only now her beakers are synths and vocal layers.
Ravyn Lenae told Audacy she went straight from high school into touring and never had to hold down a "crap job" the way so many artists do in their early years. But if things had gone differently, she says her dream job at 17 was working at American Apparel.

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