It's all 'Love' for Ravyn Lenae's breakout song

The R&B artist with one of 2025's biggest hits likes to blur musical boundaries.

- MIKAEL WOOD POP MUSIC CRITIC

IAN SPANIER For The Times RAVYN LENAE'S success comes 10 years after signing with Atlantic Records.

Last December, Ravyn Lenae stood in the street and pointed her phone at herself to film a TikTok set to her song "Love Me Not.

"Me after linking with him one last time cause I'm not bringing him into 2025," she captioned the video-a cutesy kissoff to a guy she'd clearly decided was holding her back from where she was meant to go.

Nearly a year later, it appears the singer was right: In early April, "Love Me Not" - a swinging, lightly psychedelic soul number about a hot-and-cold lover - gave Lenae her first entry on Billboard's Hot 100; a week later, she made her debut at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Several months after that, she performed to an enthusiastic crowd at Lollapalooza just before "Love Me Not" peaked at No. 5 in August.

Now, with one of 2025's biggest hits under her belt, Lenae, 26, is winding down her breakout year by opening for Sabrina Carpenter as Carpenter's Short n' Sweet tour wraps up this week with six sold-out shows through Sunday Arena at Crypto.​com "A lot of this period has been me asking other artists, 'Is this how it normally is?" "Lenae tells me on a recent evening. "How do you balance the social aspect and the online aspect and the touring with also staying highly creative?" Not to mention tending to a personal life.