As Chicago’s inaugural Forever Mine festival wrapped its second day in Union Park, Kaytranada and Monica delivered the kind of R&B-and-house evening the event promised—while a late scheduling shake-up and Monica’s personal news set the tone for a night heavy o
As the sun set over Union Park on Sunday. May 24. 2026. an attendee from Canada looked around the crowd and said. “I’ve been waiting since grade 9 for this!” She was talking about Kaytranada. who. alongside Monica. headlined day two of the inaugural Forever Mine festival dedicated to R&B and house music.
Kaytranada’s set became a hinge for the weekend’s generations. The Haitian-Canadian producer. 33. played a vigorous mix of electronic dance beats powered by singers including Syd. Rochelle Jordan. Kali Uchis. Teedra Moses. Victoria Monet. and Chicago’s own Ravyn Lenae. Kali Uchis had headlined the nearby Sueños Music Festival the night prior. and her presence fed the sense that the city’s Black music ecosystem was in full motion.
The night also carried a note of friction from the start. Shaggy had been originally slated as a third headliner but was removed from the schedule without explanation, prompting jokes—some of them based on his 2000 hit single—to land one way too many times.
Day one, led by Keyshia Cole, Kelly Rowland and Juvenile, appeared to go off without a hitch. Sunday’s closing arc, meanwhile, made it clear how quickly the festival’s focus could shift from spectacle to connection.
Kaytranada spoke directly to the crowd during his performance. saying. “You know I always gotta come back here. ” before making kissing noises to the audience. “I love y’all and I appreciate y’all.” He framed himself like a devoted student of the artists who came before—an approach that matched the festival’s tagline. “where R&B and house fall in love.”.
He also leaned into showman instincts, playing songs featuring rappers that ranged from Phonte to Childish Gambino. Onstage, he slid, twerked, kicked, posed and even did push-ups while DJing. At one point, he nearly sent the crowd into a frenzy by removing his jacket. The energy surged further when he led the audience in fist-pumps and chants—“Kaytra. Kaytra. Kaytra!”—and when people recognized songs and sang along.
Not everyone expected the beat-driven set to work without vocals. One fan, surprised and excited, screamed multiple times: “He doesn’t even sing!” But the room kept dancing anyway, suggesting that for many listeners, rhythm was enough.
Kaytranada nearly completed the bridge between ages with a sense of playful commitment. The festival’s more devoted music listeners heard it in the careful pairing of R&B voices with house grooves; the younger crowd seemed to feel it as an invitation rather than a throwback. As the first weekend’s Y2K nostalgia played out around them. Kaytranada pulled the focus toward the long legacy of Black music—and toward who gets to inherit it.
Monica took the stage before him with a more subdued, though still entertaining, set. Her mood shifted into something raw right away. Before delivering an emotional rendition of her hit “Angel of Mine,” she shared heartbreaking news about her ill father.
“The doctor says there’s nothing else they can do for my dad,” Monica told the crowd. Still, she said she didn’t want to miss the show and disappoint festival-goers because “y’all showed up for all of us.”
That moment carried the weight of the kind of honesty that has defined Monica’s career for three decades. She told the audience, “I just never stopped singing,” and added, “And y’all stayed right by my side.”
Despite the news, she delivered a nostalgic performance anchored in her voice and the familiarity of her catalog. The show was noticeably stripped down: Monica was onstage either alone or with just a few dancers and backup singers. Instead of leaning on flash. she wore a brown shirt. shorts and jacket—switching to a camo-print coat at one point.
With fewer visual distractions, the audience could focus on songs tracking her life’s milestones. Monica moved through heartbreak such as “U Should’ve Known Better. ” “Street Symphony” and “Before You Walk Out of My Life. ” then into love songs including “So Gone. ” “Love All Over Me” and “Why I Love You So Much. ” along with “The First Night.” One standout came with her heartfelt performance of “For You I Will. ” as attendees raised their phone flashlights into the air.
When she shifted away from ballads, she returned the crowd to movement. Monica thrilled the audience with high-energy performances of “Everytime Tha Beat Drop” and “Knock Knock. ” dancing through them as she went. “Oh. y’all like to have fun. huh?!” she told the crowd. and the audience’s energy seemed to briefly lift her spirits.
She closed her remarks with a simple, local message: “Chicago is a special place and y’all are special people.”
Taken together. the night offered two different kinds of catharsis—Kaytranada’s kinetic bridge between eras. and Monica’s emotional honesty carried by a catalog that still lands like a memory. In Union Park. the first Forever Mine festival’s second day ended with the same truth its tagline promised: R&B and house didn’t just share a stage. They made the crowd feel like they belonged there.
Forever Mine festival Union Park Kaytranada Monica Chicago news R&B house music Syd Rochelle Jordan Kali Uchis Teedra Moses Victoria Monet Ravyn Lenae Keyshia Cole Kelly Rowland Juvenile Shaggy