Ravyn Lenae Announces Third Album ‘Blue Island’ and Drops New Single ‘Handle’
Chicago R&B artist Ravyn Lenae has announced her third studio album Blue Island, out August 7 via Atlantic Records. The album is executive produced by Dahi and arrives with lead single ‘Handle,’ a music video, and previously released tracks with Dominic Fike.
- Ravyn Lenae has announced her third studio album Blue Island, arriving August 7 via Atlantic Records; it follows her 2024 album Bird’s Eye and the billion-stream breakout single “Love Me Not,” which reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts
- The announcement comes with a new lead single “Handle,” accompanied by a music video directed by Andre Muir with choreography by Akira Uchida
- The album was executive produced by Dahi — who also produced Kendrick Lamar’s “Worst Behavior” and “Money Trees” — continuing the creative partnership that defined Bird’s Eye
- Blue Island will include the previously released singles “Bobby” and “Reputation” (featuring Dominic Fike); Lenae also collaborated with Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress during 2025
- On the album’s concept: “‘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… really say ‘fuck all of that’ and do my own thing”
Two years after Bird’s Eye and the slow-burning rise of “Love Me Not” to a billion streams, Ravyn Lenae is back. The Chicago singer-songwriter announced her third studio album Blue Island on Wednesday alongside a new single, “Handle,” and a music video that captures a looser, more confident version of the artist who first emerged as a teenage prodigy on the Chicago indie scene.
Blue Island arrives August 7 via Atlantic Records, executive produced again by Dahi — the Grammy-winning producer behind Kendrick Lamar’s “Worst Behavior” and “Money Trees” — whom Lenae has described as a creative partner who works the way she does. The album includes the previously released “Bobby” and “Reputation” featuring Dominic Fike, and comes after a 2025 that saw Lenae collaborate with both Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress.
“Handle” was directed by Andre Muir, with choreography by Akira Uchida. Per Pitchfork, the track and video land as upbeat, movement-driven work — a different register from some of the more introspective material on Bird’s Eye.
“Say ‘F— All of That’”
Lenae’s statement about the album explains what Blue Island is trying to do — and what it’s trying to leave behind. “‘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,” she told Brooklyn Vegan. “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.”
That’s a meaningful statement for an artist who came up being compared to everyone from Erykah Badu to SZA, and whose sound has consistently resisted easy categorization. Blue Island appears to be the record where she’s done explaining herself. It’s out August 7.
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