Ryan Beatty at Lincoln Theatre
Go To This Because We Asked So Nicely – A Concert Preview
By Maddie Hongmanivanh
Photo from IMP Concerts.
If you have not heard of Ryan Beatty yet, there is a good chance you have listened to him without realizing it. The singer-songwriter first became known to many listeners through his collaborations with BROCKHAMPTON, Tyler, the Creator, and more recently contributed to four tracks on Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter.
But his contributions to the music scene only scratch the surface of what makes his work so seminal. There is an intimacy to his solo music, and as a longtime fan, I feel incredibly lucky to be on the receiving end of his work.
This past summer, Ryan released his fourth studio album, Sweet Fortune, and it exceeded my expectations. Inspired by his long-distance relationship, this album is warm, intimate, vulnerable, and centered around love and the complicated reality of maintaining a relationship while being pulled somewhere else.
A beautiful theme throughout this is that, this time, Ryan’s writing comes from a place of happiness. It feels especially striking after his previous album, Calico. Where Calico leaned into heartbreak, shame, and the lingering pain of a relationship ending, Sweet Fortune feels like opening the curtains afterward. It is so common, and almost easier, to sit down and write about our most powerful negative emotions (hurt, breakup, insecurities) as a way of coping with them. It is not everyday that you hear someone write so vulnerably about joy. And I do not mean joy in the form of fun, upbeat, feel-good songs. Ryan talks about how vulnerable you have to be to accept joy in your life. It can take sacrifice, require discomfort, and ask you to let go of things that were once familiar to you.
It is surprisingly more embarrassing to be vulnerable about what brings us joy than it is to write about our sorrows. That intimacy is exactly what makes the chance to hear these songs live so special. Sweet Fortune feels like being trusted with something deeply personal, and there is something incredibly exciting about getting to experience that vulnerability in the same room as the person who wrote it. I am thankful Ryan chose to share a record this personal with us, and even more thankful that he’s gracing us with the opportunity to hear it live at the Lincoln Theatre tonight.
The 5 W’s (And a few H’s)
Who: Ryan Beatty, featuring girlsweetvoiced
What: Alternative/Indie folk
When: September 26, doors open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.
Where: Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Why: If you want to feel every emotion all at once.
How might you know them?: From features with BROCKHAMPTON, Tyler, The Creator,
and Kevin Abstract!
How to go: General Admission tickets start at $43.15 on Ticketmaster.
