In the opening of her documentary, a four-year-old Ravyn Lenae—adorned in denim overalls and two pigtails with pink bobos—is holding a mic in one hand, performing Beyoncé’s “Baby Boy” word for word with a focused seriousness. When she hits featured artist Sean Paul’s post-chorus ad-libs perfectly, there’s an audible, joyous reaction from the room. Then, the tape shutters and cuts to a clip of Lenae in the studio last year.
The 23-year-old Chicago-born singer has never had a “real job.” She was signed to Atlantic Records at 16, the same year her EP Moon Shoes came out, which was a bouncy, impressive entrance from the artist who was quickly deemed an underground R&B prodigy. But it wasn’t until this year’s album, Hypnos, released in May, that Lenae says she felt “fully loaded.”
Today, BAZAAR.com is exclusively premiering Hypnos: In Context, the documentary that finds Lenae musing on the process of making the album and how she grew to who she is now.
“Diving into the way I think about these things isn’t something I have really talked about explicitly in detail,” she says on her reasoning for filming the BTS of Hypnos.
Hypnos: In Context reveals Lenae in her current sonic state: “uptempo, sweating, glitter-and-glitz Ravyn” (as compared to her previous selves: “funky and upbeat” and “somber and sweet”). Much like the time traveling in the opening clips of the documentary, Hypnos spans the past and present; it’s at once an artful display from a student of the school of classic R&B, while also decidedly Afrofuturistic, clearly made by someone born just before the dawn of a new century, looking to explore the idea of a future that might be more enticing than where we are now.
In the documentary, she answers questions from a clear, 2001: A Space Odyssey–style bubble chair, set against a bloodred background, and in the music video for “3D”—the first single from the project, featuring Smino—Lenae is shown as a Mattel-like, Lil Miquela AI version of herself.
“I knew I wanted to push the futuristic, sci-fi aesthetic going into this project,” Lenae says of Hypnos.
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Sonically, the music follows suit, mixing lofty romanticism and sultry Minnie Riperton–esque disco vocals with off-kilter space-age beats from fellow Chicago artist, and lifelong collaborator, Monte Booker, whom she refers to as both her “brother” and “musical twin flame.”
Booker’s beats pull from the disruptors before him, à la Timbaland’s baby squeals on Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” or the producer Cyptron’s disarming approach to TLC’s “Silly Ho.” On the single “Venom,” Booker creates an outer space soundscape built on sputtering synth outbursts, while Lenae puts on an equally otherworldly vocal display, as she repeats deviously, “Go get ’em, fate killer / Don’t tell ’em, straight venom.” The vocal repetition is dizzying and hypnotizing, a common side effect of dance music that Lenae says inspired the album title, Hypnos, named for the Greek god of sleep.
“I feel like I’m almost this god of sleep, or some kind of character that puts people in a trance-like state,” she says. “So thematically there’s a lot of chanting, or lyrics that repeat a lot, or melodies that repeat over and over. I wanted to reel that in even more.”
Over a video call, Lenae flashes the images on her mood board that she found herself constantly returning to: a 1997 photo of Janet Jackson with her hair clipped into four red puffs, taken by photographer Eddie Wolfl, and two unidentified pictures from Pinterest, both of which feature Black models, one whose features have been distorted by the round bottom of an ashtray and another whose limbs are wrapped and tucked into an indiscernible pose.
“I’m inspired by Black women who came before me who paved the way, so that’s Janet, Denise Williams, Brandy. And I listen to a lot of soul and R&B and hip-hop, like Outkast, Pharrell, Kelis,” she says.
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That’s not to say Lenae is merely referential, but it is to say that Lenae’s story is largely centered around the Black women around her, from her musical muses to her mother (a noted presence in the documentary).
“Growing up in a very female-dominated family instilled in me a confidence and sureness about my thoughts and my ideas, and the way I think about things,” she explains. “Especially being a young Black woman in a very male-dominated industry, it’s easy to feel shy about, you know, stating your opinion or your wants and needs without being labeled a bitch or hard to work with.”
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The process of speaking up during the creative process is something Lenae says she learned after years of practicing and watching others. Specifically, during a string of openings for bigger acts, including a tour with Noname in 2017, followed by a summer tour with SZA and a 2018 tour with Jorja Smith.
“Being able to go on my first tours with Black women was really special for me. And I think that’s really important, just for representation, and making sure that you’re doing your part as an artist. I just feel the responsibility to bring other Black women on my journey with me,” she says. On Hypnos, she brings along Steve Lacy, Mereba, Foushee, and Smino, all collaborators who came from, what she calls, a “meaningful process” of selection.
As Lenae works on lengthening a historic string of prodigies and protégées, she calls on her own judgment for the final say.
“Writing this album was an exercise in striking the balance between writing from this otherworldly place, as well as introducing my own life experiences and what I’ve been through,” she says. “This is the most honest and raw I’ve ever been.”
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