Ari Lennox has kicked off the countdown to her permanent departure from all social media platforms, offering fans a detailed explanation behind her decision.
The D.C. native ironically made the announcement via social media on Friday (October 11), cross-posting the same mirror selfie and lengthy caption to Instagram and Facebook.
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“I’m working on a plan to transition off of social media for good,” the Dreamville songstress started. “I don’t believe I’ll ever mature and be happy as long as i have it. So my last day of socials will be December 18th, my 2 year sobriety anniversary. I will be deleting my FB, IG and TikTok permanently. The fear of losing brand deals, music sales, n-ggas and betches will no longer keep me here.
“To all of my beautiful fans, I’m just not happy nor thriving here. I have a very toxic and codependent relationship with these apps. My happiness is worth more to me, than using these platforms to promote. I truly believe I can get creative with marketing elsewhere. I’m so exhausted with my addiction to the internet and gossip and attention and validation and yearning to be in control and over sharing. I just want to be free and complete.”
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She added: “I would like to offer other spaces where you can find me and that’s YouTube.com/arilennox and Arilennox.com and on the singing stage or outside. I ain’t gone front like this has been cute, it hasn’t. I love yall so much. Please subscribe to my mailing list on my website to remain updated on my 2025 album and tour [heart emoji] or don’t [wink & kiss emoji] (My single Smoke drops 10/18 [tongue out emoji])
“also my bad if my drama causes any distractions or insensitivity as I’m aware of the constant horror going on in the world. I just need to give my sweeties a heads up. I’ll be good and I’m excited for this journey. I’m an extreme person. It will forever be all or nothing with me.”
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She signed off using both her stage name, Ari, and her real first name, Courtney.
While fans flooded the comments of her Facebook post with support and empathy, those on Instagram did not have the option to comment on the post at all. The IG post did receive over 100,000 likes within the first two hours.
In December, Ari Lennox shared an update on her ongoing sobriety by reflecting on her past self and how far she’s come over the one year since she switched up her lifestyle, alongside a series of photographs of herself looking healthy.
“You see, drinking was my ritual to combat my immense fear of flying,” she wrote before going into detail about a near-death experience wherein she drank far too much. “‘Just alcohol’ could’ve killed me. I had many guardian angels watching over me that day. Thank God there was nobody filming (I pray and hope [crying emoji, side-eye emoji]) it was pretty divine.”
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She added: “I decided December 18th 2022, would be the day I got clean. You know what I realized after 1 year of many sober flights? I never needed alcohol to get through the flight. I thought I needed alcohol to escape my reality and to cope. I needed an excuse to drink and not feel the pain of every day life and trauma. It was my numbing vacation to avoid my purpose and my truth.
“Thank you to my fans. I love when yall share with me your sober dreams and fetes. It makes me so emotional. I’m so proud of you and I love you all so much. We can do this.”
Lennox’s social media announcement arrived just a day after she offered fans a first taste of the upcoming single she mentioned in the post.
On Thursday (October 10), the “Pressure” singer posted a snippet of the upcoming music video for “Smoke,” in which she can be seen delivering an old-school performance while singing, “Save all your fucks for me/I want all the smoke.”
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Check out the preview below.
