For the longest time, R&B music was slowly cruising by as a genre. It wasn’t until the last few years that R&B has made a comeback with several new, young artists.
H.E.R., which stands for Having Everything Revealed, is one of a few artists to bring light again to R&B during a time when it wasn’t so popular. The Grammy Award-Winning artist is also the perfect image that expresses young females can do whatever they set their minds to.
On Sept. 14, the 22-years-old curated and headlined the Lights On Fest making her the first women in history to ever do so. The festival, which took place at the Concord Pavilion was a partnership with Live Nation and H.E.R. to celebrate R&B as a genre, and to promote that “R&B is not dead.”
I made history on Saturday at only 22 years old and became the FIRST WOMAN, to own my own festival 100%. I REALLY HAVE MY OWN FESTIVAL, @LightsOnFest!!!!!!!!!!! AND THAT SHIIIIIEEET WAS POPPPPPIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow man. I don’t have any words. But THANK YOU. #LightsOnFest pic.twitter.com/8NzGPJCGRx
— H.E.R. (@HERMusicx) September 16, 2019
The festival included some of the best R&B artists holding it down right now: Jhene Aiko, Daniel Caesar, Ari Lennox, Summer Walker, Kiana Lede, DaniLeigh, Melii, Lucky Daye, Marc E. Bassy, Tone Stith, Lonr, Black Party, Rayana Jay, and Destiny Rogers.
The Lights On Fest not only brought together R&B lovers, but it also gave back to the community. The young R&B artist partnered up with Adidas Asterisk Collective and Foot Locker to donate musical instruments to Oaktown Jazz Workshops, which is a non-profit jazz program for young people.
The festival included art walks, food trucks, lounge areas, and an arcade. To top it all off, there was a film stage playing several films such as The Jungle is the Way Out, Loreen’s Gotta Boogie and Baby Nick to just name a few. Almost everything that one would want or think of for a festival was at the Lights On Fest.
H.E.R. brought her dream festival to life in the Bay Area with no limits and she’s hinted out that this won’t be the last time either. Keep an eye out for next year’s R&B bash.
