Going into the show, I’ll admit it—I had no idea who Ravyn Lenae was. She stepped onstage as the opener for Sabrina Carpenter, and I figured she’d be another pleasant-but-forgettable warm-up act you politely clap for while waiting for the headliner. But by the end of her set, I was genuinely surprised at how wrong I was. Ravyn Lenae turned out to be one of those rare openers who walks in with zero expectations from the crowd and leaves with the entire arena quietly thinking, “Wait… who was that? She was great.”
Even without knowing a single song, her performance was instantly captivating. She has a calm, almost hypnotic stage presence—nothing forced, nothing overly choreographed. She didn’t need explosions or giant LED animations to get attention. She just floated into the first track with this confident, dreamy voice that carried all the way to the rafters. The sound was smooth and silky but still powerful enough to fill a massive venue like Scotiabank Arena, which is no easy task for an opener performing to a half-settled, semi-distracted crowd.
What really worked in her favor was how effortless everything felt. She moved across the stage with the kind of poise artists usually develop after years of arena tours, not as someone introducing herself to a new group of listeners. The lighting stayed mostly atmospheric—lots of deep reds, purples, and blues—which matched her mellow R&B vibe perfectly. Even without knowing the songs, it was easy to get swept into the mood she was building.
Another thing that stood out was how the crowd slowly shifted from casual conversation to actually paying attention. At the start, people were still finding their seats, grabbing merch, taking selfies. But a few songs in, the arena noticeably quieted. You could feel everyone tuning in, leaning into the performance, even cheering at moments that didn’t rely on familiarity—just pure vocal skill and presence. That’s when you know an opener is doing something right. Winning over an audience unfamiliar with your music is a slow process, but she pulled it off smoothly.
Her voice was the highlight—airy and light but with a really refined control. There were moments where she would dip into this feathery falsetto that felt almost weightless, and other moments where she pushed into stronger, more emotional runs that showed real depth. Again, I didn’t know the songs, but it didn’t matter. The performance worked on feeling, tone, and vibe alone.
She closed her set with a more upbeat song that finally got sections of the crowd standing and moving a bit. It wasn’t a full dance party by any means, but for an opener playing mostly mid-tempo, soulful material, getting that kind of response in an arena is impressive. When she finished and walked off, the applause was loud—much louder than what most opening acts typically get.
Walking in not knowing her music, and walking out wanting to look her up immediately—that’s the best kind of opening set. Ravyn Lenae didn’t rely on familiarity or big spectacle. She just put on a genuinely good performance and left Toronto with a lot of new listeners, myself included.
I can’t provide the setlist, since I had never heard one of these songs before. know one in the middle was called “One Wish” but that’s it
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