Ravyn Lenae Will Never Forget What She Was Wearing When She Sang For Lauryn Hill

For singer Ravyn Lenae, memories of running around the mall to Forever 21 and K-Swiss served as a jumping-off point for her second LP, Bird’s Eye, out Aug. 9. While she achieved critical success and garnered fans across the country with her debut project Hypnos, Lenae tells NYLON she felt penned in by both personal and industry expectations, which prompted her to quite literally go back to her roots. A trip to the Chicago home where she grew up resulted in the striking album cover, which shows Lenae washing her hair in the basement laundry room where her grandmother dyed her curls red for the first time.

With the help of stylist Sakinah Bashir, Lenae is simultaneously embracing her earliest memories of style with a Deréon-meets-Raven Symoné early-aughts feel. She’s worn minimal, skin-hugging T-shirts and shorts from Diesel, flowing fairy dresses from Theophilio, and sporty streetwear that taps into her Chicago upbringing from Telfar and Le PÈRE.

Ahead, Lenae sits down with NYLON as she prepares to let go of Bird’s Eye and “free this part of [her] brain.”

How are you feeling at this moment?

It's feeling crazy because when I first announced [Bird’s Eye], it felt far away. The closer I get to it, the more I'm getting excited. There's some natural anxiety building around it, because I've touched certain things on this project I haven't in the past.

Some artists say once you put an album out into the world, it's not yours anymore.

Literally. I've been listening to it a lot leading up to this, because this is the only time it'll be mine. It is scary, but there are a lot of people who can resonate with these things, and it's important for me to be as honest as possible in my music, because otherwise, I'll be doing myself and people a disservice.

The album cover is you in a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans, washing your hair in the sink. Tell me about the thought process behind the image.

Part of the creative for Bird's Eye was this epiphany of getting closer to who I am. In doing that, I had to reflect on every step I've taken to get here. That led me back to Chicago, where I was born and where my family home is ... I thought it was important to tell the beautiful story of coming back to these pivotal moments in my childhood where my identity started to form.

The room on the cover is the basement laundry room, and that's where my grandmother dyed my hair red for the first time. I'm dyeing my hair ginger to symbolize feeling so unanchored in my identity, and that it's OK to move on and transition. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to resemble that in the clothes I wear, coming back to this classic, basic, timeless feel of a white tank top and denim.

What were your first memories of getting dressed and shopping as a kid? When was the first moment that fashion clicked for you?

Oh, around the preteen ages where you start trying to figure out what your identity is and how you want to express yourself with clothes. I remember Forever 21 was in its peak. I would go there a lot. Jeggings were my thing then, and nobody else was doing this at my school, but I would layer the jeggings with a tutu from Zumiez on top, with a cami and pearls. There was this weird moment where skate style or punk was intersecting with hip-hop and pop in an interesting way. That was my era. It was a jumbled bag.

When did you feel like you grew out of that experimental phase and found a signature style?

I feel like I'm still figuring that out. During high school, I went through another phase where I got into dressing preppy. I was looking at a lot of New York stuff and seeing how y'all were dressing out there. That's when Tumblr was happening, and we were seeing influences from other places more quickly. I was going to art school too, which inspired me to experiment. I went through a crazy makeup phase with purple and black lipsticks. I talk to my mom about this all the time, and she was like, “I had to hold my tongue so many times.”

There's something about that girl that I channeled for this album. That's hard to get back to. I think the longer you're in whatever industry you're in, it's easy to sway from that or look at other opinions, or get in your head.

Is there a recent outfit you've worn that encapsulates “you” the best?

I feel like there are two sides to my brain on this album. The outfit I wore for the “Love Me Not” video encapsulates one. It's the same outfit that I wore on the cover, but with Diesel denim booty shorts with thigh-high sandals. There's another part of my brain: I just wore a Diesel glittery blue dress look in London with denim boots [for a] shiny, metallic, Diana Ross feel.

You’ve talked about how creating songs is like dressing Sims. What outfit do you think “One Wish” would be?

The song reflects my birthday party when I turned 10, and my father didn't show up and he was supposed to. I had a mental breakdown in front of everybody because I felt like I’d been let down by him a lot, and it came to a head in that predicament. Naturally, I went straight back to 10-year-old me. I was wearing a lot of Deréon at that time. I remember one outfit I used to wear — it was a denim skirt with a long-sleeve cream shirt, and it said “Deréon” on it with rhinestones. I think that's why clothes, music, and life intersect a lot, because we attach certain memories, emotions, and moments to these things.

Are there any other outfits that bring up a lot of memories?

I'll definitely remember the moment when I did the pre-Grammy event performance. It was custom by Theophilio with the big hair, and I remember that because, firstly, I love the outfit and I love Theo. But I [also] remember it because I sang “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack, and Lauryn Hill was in the center of the crowd, and we were eyeing each other the entire time. That will be forever in my memory.