In a Quarantine Project, R&B Siren Aviana Takes Funk for a Test Drive!

Steve Visneau
Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from  Saks Fifth Avenue.

Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from Saks Fifth Avenue.

R&B maven Lilly Aviana, 26, released her debut album, Late Bloom, last summer, after two years of hard work. It’s chock-full of total R&B and neo-soul bangers. The Houston-reared artist wrote all of the music herself, and had plans to take the highly personal album on a Texas tour this spring. Instead, she ended up using the time allotted by the shutdown to pour into a new funk project. “I’ve been studying funk music from the ’70s and ’80s,” she says. “It’s been really fun and challenging. The time off has really opened my mind up to creating since I have no distractions.”


However, she is looking forward to getting back on the stage in the coming months. “Feeling the energy from the crowd — there’s nothing like it. We need it to survive.” 

Click here to see the full 2020 portfolio.

Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Art + Entertainment
Reyna Group Owner Leads Real Estate Market with Passion and Excellence

MICHELLE REYNA WYMES, a distinguished name in the Houston real estate market, is the owner of the successful boutique brokerage, Reyna Group. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Michelle has deep-rooted connections to the community she serves with dedication and pride.

Keep Reading Show less

The lobby of White Elephant Palm Beach

COVERED IN VERDANT vines and flanked by tall palm trees, the entrance to the White Elephant Palm Beach feels like passing into a stately home, rather than one of the island’s newest resorts. The building is 101 years old, and while the original footprint and façade remain, the interior has a decidedly updated, ultra-luxe beach vibe.

Keep Reading Show less

Photographer Jhane Hoang with two covers she photographed

ONE OF Houston CityBook’s most beloved photographers was recently diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. Jhane Hoang has been behind the camera for some of the magazine’s most ambitious shoots — including an overnight shoot at the then-new Weiss Energy Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and a cold rainy shoot at the Houston Zoo where the crew used a concessions stand as a staging area for hair and makeup.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment