Ambition is all over ‘Blue Island’, a whirlwind tour de force of hooks, sounds and styles that sees Ravyn firmly going beyond the established R&B palette to make something expansive and vivid in colour. A lot of people now know the name Ravyn Lenae, but they might not know the artistry behind her work. She’s aware of criticisms from some regarding her identity as a Black artist and the type of music she makes, and ‘Blue Island’ is her response: a statement of intent and artistic power. “Around the album, there’s been a certain dialogue opening up around me and the music I’m interested in and my Blackness. It came to a head for me where I had to really think about who I am and what I want to say and who I want to reach,” she explains. 

Individualism is at the heart of everything Ravyn wants to do. “I was understanding what individuality means in my personal life and also in music and what that truly means to me,” she says of the brief period of time when the success of the last album cooled down. Ravyn used that downtime to begin to conceptualise what she wanted to do. “I wasn’t working and travelling and promoting my last album while singing ‘Love Me Not’ in 50 million places,” she laughs. “It was the only time I had to think about what’s happening and where I’m at and how I feel about everything. A lot of the album was documenting that. Some days felt incredible. I was experiencing the biggest high in my life. On the other end, I was experiencing crazy changes. I was getting out of a long-term relationship. I had a lot of time for friends and things I used to do.” 

New possibilities and new experiences, with all the excitement and nervous energy they bring, define this set of songs. You can hear it in the exultant, transcendent joy of the single ‘Saturday Night’. “I love that song so much,” smiles Ravyn. “When I first came up with the hook, I thought there was something really cool about it. With my producer Dahi, sometimes the beat takes on three different lives, and that’s the exciting part.” The song also references the vast array of influences that go into Ravyn’s work. “I was thinking it would be so cool to have this Joni Mitchell-esque hook over this electronic Janet Jackson feel,” she says. “I like mixing my worlds and the worlds that I’m interested in together. That song is a child of that.” 

Discovery, both in finding new ways of working and in rediscovering some of the artists who shaped Ravyn’s musical formative years, has helped shape the album. There was a constant desire to do things differently. “It comes down to my confidence growing,” she says. “Feeling open enough to expand the colours that I use. Every album means so much to me, and every project is a true documentation of where I am at the time. It’s exciting to see sonically what I was into as a teenager, but also seeing that come back around with this album. A lot of it has been returning to this first feeling I had about music and artists that I discovered.” 

A lot of the artists she cites are ones you might not expect to be obvious touchstones, and they mix with the pop icons who paved the way for Ravyn. What all the artists have in common, though, is a restless creative spirit. “A lot of discovering music for me happened in high school,” she recalls. “I remember discovering Stereolab at that time. It’s a whole world. It burst my brain in a really cool way. Wait, you can be almost circus-y with music and be really colourful with the melodies you use and the words you say and beats you choose?” she laughs. “I’m also a huge fan of Janet Jackson. She’s been someone who’s been able to blend pop, rock, R&B and everything into one thing that feels true and real. As a Black woman, that’s a hard thing to be accepted for doing so; she’s someone that I’m very into. For this album, I was into Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, and The Sundays.” 

The range of artists informs the defiant statement of artistic intent of ‘Blue Island’. “I want to make all types of music in my career,” she says passionately. “This album feels like a statement of rejection of anything that anybody tries to place on me.” 

The truly great artists are the ones who aren’t afraid to shock, subvert, delight and, indeed, sometimes frustrate their audience. It would be very easy for someone as effortlessly brilliant as Ravyn Lenae is at big emotional pop music to make 13 ‘Love Me Not’s, but she recognises when it’s important to forge your own path. “Every artist has a moment where they have to send a message to listeners of autonomy,” she explains. “That’s an important part for people to understand that, okay, if you’re going to be on this ride with me, then expect X, Y, Z. If that’s not for you, then maybe it’s time to get off.”

The idea of operating from a wider creative palette began to crystallise with her last record ‘Bird’s Eye’, which was an immaculate R&B pop record that hinted at the diversity to come. ‘Blue Island’ makes that explicitly clear from the opening seconds of its bracing lead single ‘Handle’. This is something different. “Around ‘Bird’s Eye’ I got infatuated with the idea of creating songs that feel singular but not at the same time,” says Ravyn. “What is the intersection of a huge pop record, but also that same song being able to hit different pockets other than the mainstream? I always love when songs can do that. Those are the ones that live on forever. I got into the idea of using universal pop chords, but also, they might not be that universal, and let’s see what happens. A lot of the chords I started to gravitate towards feel familiar and universal and big. I was then seeing what I could do over it that makes it feel like Ravyn. I was thinking about how my songwriting has progressed, and my collaborators have evolved. I was working with a writer called Eric Leva on this album, and we created this thing together where melodically we go places I usually like to go, but what’s that one thing that takes it left a little bit and makes it me.” 

Those left turns and idiosyncrasies were easier for Ravyn to employ this time because she did manage to have that enormous success. It’s obviously easier to experiment from a point of strength, but there’s still a little nagging doubt that you might push it too far. “Once you experience success with a song that almost validates you more because you’re like, ‘Oh, I trust my taste, and I trust what I think is cool’, and then everyone else begins to trust you too,” she says. “There’s a new freedom of expression, but also that tiny bit of pressure in the back of my head with wanting to find that magic with every song.” 

One of the album’s key tracks perfectly encapsulates ‘Blue Island’’s singular philosophy. ‘Babygirl’ featuring Doechii is a slow-burning anthem of expression and resilience. The innate confidence in being exactly who you are, as Ravyn sings, “Can never be wrong even if you don’t go where everybody goes.” “That song is the anchor of the album,” she says, beaming with pride. “I’m so proud of that song because it really captures the tension but also the freedom of figuring out who you are and what you stand for. Your route may not be the easy route, but it feels good, and that’s what matters. Naturally, someone like Doechii made so much sense to me because her journey has been a lot like that, too. We saw from the very beginning that this is a superstar and someone who really believes in what she’s doing. Never once does she waver from that. That’s something big to say and stand by and see play out in a really big way. That song and that line captures everything for me. It’s about finding that peace in my position in music.” 

The push-pull between creative evolution and mainstream appeal is an eternal conundrum for many artists, and Ravyn has grappled with it. “I was tangled in that the whole time,” she admits. “Because I’ve been someone who moves freely and goes wherever the wind blows creatively, that energy has gotten me to where I am. One half of my brain says just keep going and doing what feels right and what I’m inspired by, while the other side says wait, I’m in the position I’ve always wanted to be in, and I see the success of something and why it works, so why wouldn’t I just do ten more of those things? I’d set myself up, set my family up, set my team up in the way that we’ve been dreaming about. There’s a part of me that just can’t do it. I have other things to say, and other ways to express myself in music and that won’t feel true. I have a duty to myself to follow that feeling.” 

While those internal battles have fuelled her creativity, the desire to push back against the reductive critics who question the music she is making and the validity of her art in terms of race is a driving force behind the album. Several songs pointedly take aim at those sorts of people. It’s a debate where Ravyn acknowledges the historical context and the issues at stake, but is completely certain of her own path and of the importance of allowing artists to follow their creative instincts. “It’s very natural for Black listeners to be protective of R&B and our genres and Black artists,” she says. “I completely acknowledge and understand the history of Black artists feeling that they had to do something else or cater to a white crowd to be successful, but in doing that, and people assuming that story around me, it completely takes out my autonomy.

“I don’t think people realise when they do that that it takes out my choice to do what I want to do. It confuses me that people would think that I wouldn’t be doing something I truly wanted to be doing. It’s not all rooted in Blackness. I get really weird about explaining myself because the people who understand my route and what I’m going for get it, but it gets to the point where the projections have to stop, and we get to the point where we allow Black artists to move freely within music. R&B is a living, breathing thing that has changed a lot since it began. We as listeners have to be curious, we have to be excited about exploring what else can happen.” 

Ravyn expresses solidarity with other Black artists who have faced similar assumptions, like Rachel Chinouriri, who has been vocal on the depressing desire for people to project R&B and soul music and lazy categorisation on her simply because she’s a Black artist without engaging with her very different art. “I’ve seen it a lot with the Black girls specifically,” says Ravyn. “I’ve had conversations with Rachel and with Olivia Dean about this, and it’s an ongoing thing on both sides, with white people expecting something and Black people expecting something. When you’re caught in the middle of that, it can make you go internal and feel weird about your decisions. What I’m seeing is this confidence and ability to say no. This is who I am, take it or leave it. If it’s not for you, then that’s okay. I’m not for everybody. This chokehold on R&B and policing Black artists has to stop. We wouldn’t have so many of our favourite artists if they obeyed the rules we wanted to put on them.”

Obeying the rules was never on the cards for Ravyn. ‘Blue Island’ is full of little touches of her conceptual vision, from the boldness of the sound to the album’s visual language, including the artwork, which features Ravyn pictured with idyllic blue sky, lush grass, and an imposing tree, in a beautifully nature-inspired, elemental photo. “It felt expansive, big and timeless, but it also felt like a Led Zeppelin thing that I wanted to hit with the cover,” she smiles. “It feels like classic rock in a way. I like that you can pick the cover up and not really know what the music sounds like.” The album cover also fits in with the expansiveness of the music and Ravyn’s love of being outdoors; she loves walking and horse riding. “I love horses, and I love how big they are,” she smiles. “There’s something really calm and peaceful about them that I like a lot.” 

‘Blue Island’ is experimental in nature, but lyrically it is deeply human and full of relatable touches. This is most obvious in the beautifully wholesome phone call she includes with her Grandpa at the end of ‘Never Let Me Go’, a trend continuing from a similar phone call on one of her previous records. “My grandparents are everything to me,” beams Ravyn. “That’s my connection to my childhood. I grew up around my grandparents and stayed with them in the summer and during high school. There have been a lot of times where we’ve just sat around the kitchen table talking. I find myself craving conversation with my grandparents to bring me back down to Earth, just to feel something. Every time he’s like, are you making money? They’re so on the outside of all of this,” she laughs. 

The wholesome, beautiful side of the album is represented by tender moments like that, but arguably more prevalent and striking is the nervous, fevered kinetic energy of new wave rock tracks like ‘In And Out’. “I had the most fun working on that because it felt like I was really allowing myself to go into that character I feel when I’m on stage,” she explains. “That was the pinnacle of what that character is for me. There is this ethereal, soft, imaginative, dreamy side of me, and my music. There’s also a rambunctious, silly, whimsical aspect to me, and that song captures that feeling. I can’t wait to play that one live.

“When I was working on these songs, I was thinking about how they would feel live and what space I was trying to fill. Opening up for Sabrina Carpenter really gave me an idea of what certain songs feel like in certain spaces; the type of songs that fill out the space in a different way. I never thought about that until this album. There’s a lot of synthy stuff and chanty big hooks. I want that worldly feel.” 

The confidence in placing that different energy of synthy rock guitar is reflected in the tracklist’s dynamics and the choice not to have the beautiful, uplifting anthem ‘Find It One Day’ as the final track, instead employing the bratty, loud, discordant electro rock of ‘Let Us In’ to close the album. “It was a choice,” she smiles. “’Find It One Day’ was the last song for a while, but something felt too perfect about the ending. It felt too much like a bow on it. It’s not in my personality at all, so it felt right to throw in this cliffhanger. ‘Let Us In’ felt very different from everything else. It felt like a point to what the next thing might sound like.”

Who is she addressing, though, when she’s feverishly imploring to let us in? “I could take that song a number of ways,” answers Ravyn. “I could take it as a party song, you’re going out with friends, you’re having a good time, you’re letting loose. It also feels like a message to the music industry. I’m here, I’m loud, I’m bold, and you can’t ignore it any longer.” 

That attitude and that aggression are perfectly primed for the live shows that Ravyn has this summer, culminating in a must-see performance on the same lineup as Tyler, The Creator at All Points East in London; the first taste we’re going to get in the UK of the much-anticipated ‘Blue Island’ live show.

“I love playing London,” exclaims Ravyn. “It’s one of my favourite crowds and one of the first places that really showed me love. London has a special place in my heart; the energy live is always big. I’m super excited about this festival. I’m excited for people to see how much my show has grown with the creative direction and the set design. I’m dancing on stage. I’ve always dreamed of being in this position to have the resources where I could build a stage and do visuals that respond to what I’m doing on stage and the lights. I’m in a really exciting place with the show. There’s more pressure as well, I’m in the dance studio every day training, and I’m running to make sure I’m not winded on stage. I’m excited for people to see the work that I’ve been putting in.” 

There’s also the wonderful synergy of performing on a bill with a legend in Tyler, who has defined what it means for an artist to follow their own vision in the modern pop era. “When I see artists like that who’ve been rewarded for following exactly what they want to do, that’s all I need,” says Ravyn. 

The embracing of choreography is a new thing for Ravyn as she brings the ‘Blue Island’ world to life on stage and beyond. “Visually, I’ve always sat in this psychedelic but sensual feel, but also I’m an art school kid, so there’s this theatre aspect to my show,” she adds. “I’m really emphasising what that character feels like with the movement and the facial expressions, really leaning into it has been fun to do. The dance has been in this contemporary jazz, theatre Fosse world that’s really cool.” (Check out the video to the classic track ‘Alright’ by her hero Janet for a video example of the Fosse dance homage she’s taking inspiration from.) 

Despite all the exciting new sounds, Ravyn still has love for the song that changed her life. “I’ve played two festivals already with a few new songs, and I’m really excited to see how it fits in this new world I’m cultivating. Not once have I gotten tired of ‘Love Me Not’. That’s a song that I believed in from the start, and I thought it was so special. Whenever I get to play it and see people sing along to it, it means something every time.” 

‘Blue Island’ is a transformative moment for Ravyn Lenae. “I’ve learned that the way I approach music is unique to me,” she reflects. “That’s what makes me me. There were times in my career when I thought that was stifling or limiting, but now, when I see what’s possible, it’s really invigorated me in a special way. I can approach my songwriting and my choices in music with real clarity and confidence. That was something I hadn’t really experienced before. I enjoyed my music and thought what I was doing was cool, but now there’s more of a fire behind what I’m doing. 

‘Blue Island’ is a triumph of her artistry and freedom of expression. A realisation that you can actually creatively evolve while striving for mass success. A few words of wisdom from an all-time musical legend who was equally unafraid to use her own voice helped Ravyn find the balance between following your own path and reaching the widest audience possible.

“I did an artists talk with Mariah Carey and Kelly Rowland and I remember talking to Mariah, someone who’s had 20 Number 1s in her career, she was telling me how much she loved ‘Love Me Not’ and the album and one of the questions to me was how do I stay centred and focused in the studio and I said something like I just have to not feel like I’m chasing something,” says Ravyn. “Mariah was like, but you have to!” she continues, delivering a pitch-perfect Mariah impression. “It kind of took me back for a second as she said something like, if you feel like you have that magic in you, why wouldn’t you chase that? It’s right there. It rewired my brain in a way to feel like it’s okay to feel like you are chasing something. You’re chasing something. You’re always going for something.” ■

Taken from the August 2026 issue of Dork. Ravyn Lenae’s album ‘Blue Island’ is out 7th August. She plays All Points East on 28th August; visit allpointseastfestival.com for more information.