Ravyn Lenae Wants to Be Limitless
As the alt-pop star releases her most genre-defying album yet, she dishes on her greatest influences.
If you ever wanted to know who is on your favorite singer's playlist, or what albums inspired the latest “it girl” the most, tune in for Marie Claire’s resident music franchise Listen Up. In this interview series, we ask musicians about their listening habits and the specific records that informed their taste—and inherently their journey as an artist.
Ravyn Lenae experienced the biggest year of her career in 2025, thanks to her song “Love Me Not” going viral. After nearly a decade being a critical darling and your favorite artist’s favorite artist, the singer-songwriter landed her first Billboard Hot 100 hit, supported Sabrina Carpenter and Reneé Rapp on tour, and hopped on remixes with PinkPantheress.
However, she never expected that more listeners exposed to her kaleidoscopic sound would mean it becoming the topic of a senseless debate about what is or isn’t R&B. “‘Love Me Not’ sparked a lot of interest in my career, but also sparked a lot of conversation in culture and Blackness and how Black women should sit in music and what's expected and accepted,” the 27-year-old tells Marie Claire.
The Chicago native responded the only way she knew how: refusing to limit herself. “I really told myself that whatever I think feels good and is cool, lean into that and try not to fixate on the genre conversation of it all.”
Ravyn Lenae's third album, Blue Island, was released on August 7, via Atlantic Records.
That intuition led Leane to create her third studio album, Blue Island. Bold and metallic, it touches on neo-soul, alt-R&B, bubblegum pop, and rock while telling a story about transition. The recording artist's palette of influences comes across the 14 tracks, but she explains that she also found inspiration in music she doesn't typically listen to—from Brazilian jazz to Bollywood hits.
It’s as if the project exists on its own vibration—like a culmination of Lenae’s confidence in her vision. “I'm constantly daydreaming or dreaming vividly at night and interpreting those dreams,” she says. “I feel like I always live slightly above what's happening on Earth. And maybe that's just the Aquarius in me, but that's just a really fun place to occupy and dissect and fixate on.”
With Blue Island out now, below, Lenae unpacks the wide range of artists who shaped her sound, from ‘00s hitmakers to the rising names on her playlist now.
I'm someone who loves to take multiple sources and artists and sounds and mix them into one pot. I grew up loving women in pop, like Beyoncé. My mom was a huge Destiny's Child fan, so I got that soulful aspect to my music ingrained in me pretty early. My dad listened to a lot of OutKast, so that funky, off-kilter, almost humorous approach to music I loved. He listened to a lot of music that felt that way and incorporated different genres—specifically Speakerboxx/The Love Below. Those were ran up and down whenever I would spend time with him.
Justin Bieber's first album, [My World]. I remember being sat.
Nelly Furtado's Loose. It's, to me, a defining pop album. It has everything I love about music in it: the big universal pop chords, but then you have super hard, off-kilter, out-of-pocket drums. Timbaland breaks every rule possible, and it makes sense. That mash-up, along with her writing style—which seems to be rooted in folk and chanty qualities I really love—[makes it] that album for me.
I remember first hearing "Say It Right." I was in my basement. It was like our playroom, and we would have videos playing on that TV all day. The "Say It Right" video came on, and I was sitting at the screen thinking, “What is this sound?” Ever since then, I've loved Nelly Furtado.
The '80s. There was something so fun happening, and that was the spark of people using keyboards and MIDI. People were getting into the electronic aspect of what music can be, mixed with the analog. I love that mix, and those moments [birthed] some of our favorite anthemic songs ever.
Blue Island features collaborations with Doechii and Dominic Fike.
Seeing Lady Gaga perform "Paparazzi" [during the 2009 VMAs]. That shit was so epic to me. It made me really want to incorporate the theatrical aspect in my live performance because there's really no limit.
Rosalía, André 3000, Leikeli47, Gwen Stefani, Rihanna.
Richie Havens sang it: "Wonder Child." It was originally written for Sesame Street. That's one of my favorite songs ever. The way he sings it, and when you think about the fact that it was written for children, it just makes it even more special.
Also, Alicia Keys' "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart." That song is perfectly written.
There's a Sia song called "Breathe Me." If I'm really trying to get it in, that one. Do not listen to that if you have a full day ahead of you.
Robyn. That's the perfect thing to get you in the mood of going out and losing your fucking mind. [Also,] Doja Cat, Leikeli47, the greats.
Mariah Carey. That always works.
If I'm not doing cardio, singing my own songs, then Amaarae.
I usually drive in silence because I need a second to think [or I'll listen to] Stereolab. That's fun, especially in California, when the sun's out and the wind's blowing, I'm driving down PCH. Tame Impala, too.
A song I'm definitely proud of is "Babygirl." That one is written so beautifully and has collaborators like Eric Leva and Tayla Parx, who helped me really map out what that feeling is for me—of being a Black girl in music, finding her path that might be a little offbeat or not the obvious thing, is a really hard topic to tackle. Especially the lyrics "Can never be wrong / Even if you don't go where everybody goes" are really powerful to me.
"Babygirl," honestly. I'm someone who's definitely curious about life and the why’s of life and myself, and I'm always spinning my wheels, trying to get closer to what that answer is. That song really expresses the beauty of wonder and curiosity.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
