It's hard to believe that it's been two years since immensely talented Chicago musician Ravyn Lenae dropped her sophomore album, Bird's Eye. She had a collab-heavy 2025, working with Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress, before coming back at the top of this year with new songs made with Dominic Fike. That’s also not to gloss over her major achievement of landing a top-10 hit on the Billboard charts with “Love Me Not.”
Now, she’s back to announce her third album, Blue Island, alongside the lead single “Handle.” The album was executive produced by Grammy-winning artist Dahi, who also collaborated with Lenae on her 2024 album.
Blue Island came together over the past year as Lenae blended her major influences (Santigold, Janet Jackson, Tracy Chapman) with listening to a lot of “Blondie, The Sundays, Martin Rev, and even the chorus structures of Bollywood soundtracks.”
Lenae explained:
‘Blue Island’ is a point of arrival, and feeling set in my ways and in who I am, and feeling free of any of those preconceived notions about Blackness or what I had to be in the past. So I think now it’s fun to challenge the idea of what R&B is supposed to sound like, what pop is supposed to sound like… and really say ‘fuck all of that’ and do my own thing.
“Handle” doesn’t disappoint. It pulses with big, glossy ’80s power-pop energy — think Prince, Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper. Industrial-strength drum claps collide with cascading guitar melodies and brass-knuckled riffs, creating a thrilling kind of chaos. Yet through it all, Lenae’s voice remains the undeniable centerpiece.
Watch the Akira Uchida-directed video for "Handle" below.
Blue Island is out 8/7 via Atlantic. Pre-order here.
