Following Daye was sultry songstress Kiana Ledé, who satisfied festivalgoers with “Skitlerlude” and “Second Chances.” She ended her set with a steamy performance of her newest single “Best Friend” featuring Kehlani, but sadly the Bay Area native was unable to join her. Ledé’s sultry runs mixed with her take on modern-day relationships had us all anticipating her sophomore album, which is projected to come out later this year.
Next on the Fluorescent Stage was the Shea Butter Queen herself, Ari Lennox, who captivated the crowd with the shape of her hips in a stunning silver dress that she joked she ordered on Google earlier that morning. Shortly after she performed “Whipped Cream” and “I’ve Been,” the singer got real comfortable during her set, taking her shoes off and singing a rendition of Beyoncé’s "Kitty Kat." Even as she sang about walking around naked in her “New Apartment,” Lennox’s sharp vocals are reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Brandy.
Following up with “Broke,” “Back Seat” and “Up Late,” Ari showed why she’s the first lady of Dreamville. She closed out her performance with one of her biggest hits, “BMO,” which sounded like an ode to the '90s R&B artists that came before her Although she joked on stage about being unprepared, the crowd definitely couldn’t tell. Lennox proved that R&B isn’t dead, making it clearly evident why she was hand-picked by H.E.R. to participate.
The man who coined the term "trap soul" and thereby created the whole subgenre, Bryson Tiller was next to the stage and he opened up with “Could’ve Been” and transitioned into “Exchange,” which sampled the classic '90s bop “Swing My Way” by K.P. & Envyi. Although he didn’t perform many songs from his sophomore project True To Self, despite it being his first number one album, Tiller did not disappoint as he performed tunes from his certified triple-platinum debut T R A P S O U L and his most recent release A N N I V ER S A R Y, including “7:00,” “Still Yours,” “Always Forever” and the song that put him on the map, “Don’t.” Before ending his performance with “Right My Wrongs,” Bryson took a second to express his gratitude for the opportunity to perform on stage again, a sentiment that was evident amongst all of the performers of the night.
