That would explain the eclecticism on the Maryland artist’s recent EP, Lovers Rock.

“I was challenged [by my team] to look at love from different angles,” Renee says. Instead of relying on traditional love tropes — i.e. “Oh baby, I love you” songs — she channels anger, sensuality, contemplativeness and straight-up funk on the release, seeking to make an atypical record about love.

She borrows ideas from Pharrell, Scott and Brown, but that’s not it: Sade plays a lead role. Lovers Rock cribs its title from the English R&B artist’s fifth album.

“Sade was a huge influence for me on this album. She’s so at peace, laid back… and relaxed,” Renee says.

The performer also took cues from Sade’s penchant for playing with genre. Take the song “Guess Again,” which Renee says was originally intended for a “Blink-182-like rock band.” She took it and made it her own. Elsewhere, intro track “Reminder” finds the vocalist floating over an atmospheric production one minute, and spitting rapid-fire lines the next.

In the wind-down stage of her “Lovers Rock” tour, Renee is playing the homecoming festivities at Morgan State University in Baltimore, North Carolina A&T State University and Winston-Salem State University. After that, she plans to step off the road for a bit and use her extensive musical vocabulary to begin work on a followup to Lovers Rock.

This time, though, Renee is setting her eye on another one of her spirit guides.

“I’m coming after Pharrell,” she says.

Warning: Explicit lyrics.

Produced by Renee’s brother PKay The Producer, “Invisible” explores how it feels to lose loved ones far before their time. In 2007, Renee says, a car crash claimed the lives of two of her friends, Vernard Whitfield and Alycia Polzine. In the aftermath of the loss, Renee lapsed into depression.

“At that time in my life, and even a short time following, I didn’t care about much. I felt pointless,” Renee writes in an email. “Seeing everything the way I did that night was a true smack in the face.”

Renee vowed to make something of her friends’ loss. “I swore that day that their deaths wouldn’t be in vain, and if I could do anything about it, I would,” she writes. “Little did I know that decision would motivate me to the space I exist in today.”

The new video for “Invisible” opens with a dedication to Polzine and Whitfield and thanks them for “inspiring her out of” her depression.

Fellow D.C.-area native Amil Barnes shot the video at the site of the deadly collision in Charlotte, N.C., and another significant location: a road in Maryland where her mentor Minnie Exum, pictured at the end of the video, was fatally hit by a drunk driver. Scenes intertwine, building into a montage of moments leading up to her friends’ deaths, and the bouts of rage and grief that followed.

“This video hits home for me in every aspect,” Renee writes. “I decided a long time ago that I would follow my heart wherever it led, and when I heard the music for this song, the lyrics just fell out.” In the song, she asks, “You ever feel so low, you can’t adjust to highs?” It’s a state of mind that many struggling with grief would recognize.

“It is my reality — depression is real,” Renee writes. “I can find myself experiencing ‘high’ moments” — like winning amateur night at New York’s legendary Apollo Theater and performing with Chuck Brown, Wale and Roy Ayers — “and still struggle with low moments. And that sucks too,” she writes. “Oh, to be human.”

Featuring local artists including GoldLink, Reesa Renee and Future Band, Broccoli City also booked acts from New York (hip-hop veterans Just Blaze and Cam’ron), Grand Rapids, Mich. (producer Sango), Atlanta (hip-hop duo Big Face Paper Gang), and Los Angeles (D.C.-born singer Kelela), where the next Broccoli City Fest will take place on May 3.

See our photos from the event below:

Ben Frank Jr. (center) of the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo Big Face Paper Gang parties with the crowd.

Alison Carney and her new band, Butterfly Tree

D.C.-based hip-hop artist Chaz French

Virginia-based MC K.eYe.D

D.C.-based band Future Band blended hip-hop, rock, go-go, and jazz.

Future Band

D.C.-based, Grammy-nominated R&B singer Reesa Renee

D.C. hip-hop artist RAtheMC briefly joined singer Reesa Renee on stage.

Michigan producer Sango played his signature brand of remixes and his own productions.

L.A.-based and D.C.-born R&B singer Kelela performed tracks from her mixtape “Cut 4 Me.”

Kelela

Kelela

Producer Just Blaze played several of the hits he produced for Jay Z and others.

Virginia MC GoldLink

GoldLink

Hip-hop veteran Cam’ron headlined.

Cam’ron