Ravyn Lenae

Ravyn Lenae Washington is an R&B singer born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, who emerged as part of the city's Zero Fatigue music collective alongside artists like Smino and Monte Booker. Her voice — high, airy and elastic — combined with experimental, jazz-and-electronic-inflected production made her one of the most distinctive new R&B voices to come out of Chicago in the 2010s.

She first drew attention with her debut EP «Moon Shoes», later reissued by Atlantic Records, followed by «Midnight Moonlight» in 2017. Her «Crush» EP in 2018, produced largely with Steve Lacy, became a breakthrough moment, with songs like «Sticky» and «4 Leaf Clover» showcasing a warmer, more melodic direction while retaining her unconventional vocal phrasing. She has continued to release acclaimed full-length work that blends R&B, funk and psychedelic soul influences.

Ravyn Lenae is known for pushing R&B into unusual textures and rhythms rather than working within conventional song structures, and for close creative partnerships — particularly with Steve Lacy and the Zero Fatigue collective — that have shaped her sound's evolution from the Moon Shoes era into her more recent work.