Ravyn Lenae, viral success story, adjusts to the aftershock
In the pop music sphere, there used to be an idea that the artist creating the song was the hitmaker, as if it was a divine gift to see into the collective unconscious.These days, it is more often the audiences that make songs into hits themselves.
Take "Love Me Not" by Ravyn Lenae, a soulful soft-rock song from a curious, dynamic artist who seemed destined for a more niche career path before the internet stepped in.A single from Lenae's 2024 album, Bird's Eye, "Love Me Not" wasn't a hit until TikTok made it so — thanks to a viral mashup pairing the song with Solange's "Losing You" that pushed it to No.
5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.7 on the Global 200.
To be clear, "Love Me Not" is lovely and deserving, with all the right components to resonate broadly with listeners.But it is apparent that investment in the song had less to do with tracing inspiration back to its creator and more with embracing the short-term craze, a kind of unwitting cooperative movement.
The hit quickly became a sword of Damocles over Lenae's head: What do you do with hype that isn't precisely for you?How to face the viral curve has become, with greater frequency, one of the most important choices a rising artist can make.Some chase the highs of virality and miss — like Tommy Richman, whose electro-funk breakout "Million Dollar Baby" went viral around the same time, and who has since seen lesser, interchangeable emulator singles wither on the vine.
After dominating the charts with "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," country-rap star Shaboozey recently released a concept record designed to legitimize his outlaw bona fides, seemingly less concerned with the charts than with his place in the country continuum.On her new album, Blue Island, Lenae follows neither path, opting to circumvent the pressures of virality by retreating into retromania.Blue Island is named for the city in the Chicago area where Lenae grew up, and it finds the singer reaching for the familiar amid career upheaval.
She reunit...