Lánre Keyede is an up-and-coming artist based in Atlanta who fuses R&B, dance, and pop. His songs have reached 3M+ streams, and he’s received recognition from GQ’s 2025 Rising Artists to Watch and Rolling Stone UK. He is also the CEO of Atlanta Rehearsal Studios, but what’s a moment in his career so far that he’ll never forget? A showcase with three other artists at Atlanta’s vinyl venue, the year after he released his first EP. “Those are the things I think about when I have those really bad or challenging days. When I’m missing my family, on the road, those are the moments that come to my mind immediately,” Lánre says.
It was one of his first shows, and he sold around 50-60 tickets, all to his friends and family. “Everybody who I loved was in that room, watching me play as a solo artist for the first time with the band. It was just one of the moments that I’ll never forget,” Lánre says.
On Life background
Lánre grew up in New Jersey with his Yorubian family in the early 2000s, which he attributes to the creation of his sound. When he wasn’t listening to the 2000s/2010s radio hits in the car, he was listening to Nigerian church music on his way back home on Sundays.
“This is a story from my uncle. I don’t remember because I was like four. He was like, ‘You were singing word for word to this Yoruba song in a totally different language. We were all shocked because we didn’t even know that you knew what was going on.’ I wasn’t really talking much back then, so I was just singing,” Lánre continues, “I will say Yoruba culture and the vibrancy of the music is in the DNA. That’s my upbringing. That’s my culture.”
Singing has come naturally to the rising artist for his whole life. He began thinking about a music career at age 13, but eventually went to college at Georgia State University and fell in love with marketing and music. He graduated in 2014 and has remained in Atlanta, where he spent his more formative years. “Atlanta has more color to who I am as a person. The experiences I’ve had here have been more profound because they’ve kind of shaped who I am as an adult,” Lánre says. In 2020, Lánre decided to officially make being an artist his career.
On Destiny
Over the summer, Lánre discovered The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a book he feels “100%” reflects the early stages of an artist’s career. The fictional book follows a shepherd boy across his extensive journey to find his own “personal treasure” or his destiny. “That whole process, I think, is such a good metaphor for me and my journey for this. I thought it was one thing, right? I just wanted to be an entertainer and a singer. I wanted to be just like Beyonce and Michael Jackson, and Usher. But really, I was finding myself through this whole process. I’m still finding myself,” Lánre says. The process or pursuit has brought him so much more than what he could have imagined. “It’s brought some friendships, relationships, a lot of spiritual growth, let’s just say [from] 2020 to now.”
The journey of this pursuit is also filled with creative ruts and difficulties, which Lánre says can happen once a quarter. The process can be filled with immense highs followed by challenging lessons, something he says he can find discouraging. “I’m kind of done with this roller coaster. But over time, I think what I learned is that it’s just like the book, that is the treasure, right? The journey and the lessons that you learn along the way. That is what you’re working for because it’s forging you,” Lánre says. He finds the hard work to be the reward so far in his experience. “The reward that I even get to sit here talking to you. Who would have thought about that, and all the stuff that this interview could possibly open both of our minds to? It just keeps growing and growing like that,” he says.
The hardship he encounters occasionally can leave him with dissatisfaction, but can also provide his career with reflection. “Especially when you’re an independent artist, and you’re so hungry for it. Like I said, this is all I’ve ever wanted to do since I remember wanting anything,” he says. The longer he is in the industry, the more the “ugliness” of the entertainment industry is exposed to him. It is here where Lánre finds himself at a crossroads, “Do I love singing enough to keep going and to keep pushing through? Does the beauty of it outweigh it? And I’ve had to have that conversation with myself a lot. I’m sure I’m going to continue to have it. But each time the answer is yes,” he says.
As frequent as the lows come, so do the highs for Lánre. “A memory that I cherish a lot is finishing my first EP. It was called In My Dreams. We’re actually coming up on a fifth-year anniversary of it this December, and we’re doing a recreation of the top three songs from that EP. As I’m reworking on this project, I’m reminded of how much fun it was, how everything was so new. There was nothing to measure me against,” Lánre says.
He has enjoyed stepping into the shoes of his past self, whom he says he’s changed so much from. “When I was starting, I didn’t know what I was doing. I think that was the most pure time in my career, it’s been kind of emotional revisiting it through this anniversary project,” he says.
On Love
Listeners may notice when they tune into Lanre’s songs, the strong themes of life, dance, and love. “I’m very starry eyed, I look at life very glass half full, always wanting the best. Up until I started therapy in 2020, I think when the lows hit, they hit very low, right? Whether that’s career, relationships, I would just feel everything,” Lánre says. While he says that’s helped him with his writing, it makes being a functioning adult a bit difficult. “I’m pretty guarded when it comes to my emotions. I knew at the end of this year in order for me to grow as an artist, I had to let that part of me go. Like hey this isn’t helping me anymore to be so guarded and to not share my real thoughts and emotions. It started with my project Up All Night,” Lánre says.
His 2024 album, Up All Night covers the things that keep him up at night, what he describes as the good, the bad, and the ugly. The inspiration for his music lately has been songs that are what he calls “just me.” The process of letting everything loose, he says, has been really fun and scary.
He laughs as he remembers his recent continuation of this process, his latest song, “Last Night Alone,” where he shares the deepest parts of himself in a song he claims is the most vulnerable he has ever written. “Those are real conversations that I had with myself, the person I wrote about, and with my therapist,” he says.
The hook of that song was written by his close friend and producer, Myles, who recently got married. The song, he says, is one part his personal experience, and the other part his friend getting married. Lánre says, “One time we were talking like, wow, we’ve been working together for five years. And now we both have found our person we’re seeing, how crazy is it that we’re having this experience at the same time?”
He believes this connection that music provides is what makes it so intertwined. “We’re all within 10% of each other as human beings. With music, it can tap in not only the organ of your ears, but also spiritually it taps into people. It only serves the world better for you to be as vulnerable as you can, even when you’re a private person like I am,” Lánre says.
Throughout this year, he has learned lots about love and its lessons. This is not only reflected in his music, like in “Last Night Alone”, but in his life. “Love isn’t something that I have to earn. It’s something that I just have because I have it within me, and it’s okay to give it. It’s okay to be loved instead of feeling like I need to change who I am because of it. The person that this song’s about is about that. Also, more universally, that’s how I envision what love is,” Lánre says.
His lyrics within “Last Night Alone” are about when someone you love holds a (metaphorical) mirror up to you. He says, “It’s a beautiful thing when someone can show you that you are already all these things; someone just hasn’t held up a mirror yet.”
The lessons he’s learned in letting go are also reflected in his music, some of them taught by his mother, who has a doctorate in English communications: “You learn so much from your parents. What I took from her was lyricism and how you can paint different ways to say things in your lyrics.” In his album Up All Night, her voice memos linger through conversations between Lánre and his mother. He recorded their conversations about falling apart and pulling yourself back together to find hope again after a breakup or loss of motivation. He inserted these voice recordings on “Burnin” and “Just a Friend.”
On Life future & career
“Life is so much more beautiful and more of a wide scope when you look at things as they are and you accept things and people as they are, not as you want them to be. And then I can be the best version of myself.”
What Lánre is most proud of and hopes to expand in the future is the same thing: to never let the music industry form how he makes music. “This year I’ve been more purposeful in doing that,” he says.
After submitting his music to magazines and different critics, many would tell him it’s “dated”, something his new artist self found difficult not to take to heart. Now his area of weakness has become his area of musical strength. “I was just like, okay, if it’s going to be dated, let’s make it dated. Let’s put so much into really showing people this is beautiful. That era of music that I’m calling back to was so powerful. It still is. So just showing it in a new updated way,” he says.
Lanre revealed to KCOU that he’s getting an EP project ready for next year. The theme will be the “dated” music that inspired him. He is currently working on three singles and has released a few that will more than likely be on this EP. He plans on releasing it before next summer is over.
For listeners, he hopes they can find a piece of themselves in his music, because he says for a long time, he’s considered music to be his “only true friend” and safe place. “It’s where I can immerse myself in a world and kind of disconnect from the world around me. My biggest hope when I’m creating is to give someone else that; if they just need to cry or they need to laugh or they need to dance, whatever it is, that they can find it in my music. Obviously, I can’t be the only artist that does that for them, but I hope my work can help them feel seen and feel at home.”
To listen to Lánre’s latest song and future projects, listen wherever you get your music or tune into KCOU’s 88.1FM.
