Lexa Gates, known for wild stunts, heads to SF’s Castro Theatre

There’s practically no length Lexa Gates won’t go to in promoting her work. 

In January, the singer-songwriter spent 10 hours walking on a human-sized hamster wheel to promote her latest album “I Am,” livestreaming the spectacle from the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in New York on Twitch. Two years before that, she locked herself in a glass box for 10 hours in New York’s Union Square to promote her album, “Elite Vessel.”

Those are just a couple ways the 24-year-old artist sets herself apart, as she’s built a reputation for bold, boundary-pushing style. 

Gates, no relation to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and whose real name is Ivanna Alexandra Martinez, blends sharp rap with softer pop and R&B tunes, making for an experimental yet intimate musical sound. She first built a following on SoundCloud as a teenager before signing to Capitol Records in 2024.

Now with her San Francisco tour stop on Friday, April 3, she joins a slate of eclectic acts helping christen the newly renovated Castro Theatre.