The rest of the album has a couple of highlights – “Mourning Doves” is a slow, emotional track about revisiting past relationships and “Lightning & Thunder” explores the residual feelings that can remain after a breakup. With the two songs that follow, “Born Tired” and “LOVE,” the album reverts to the shallowness of the previous songs, offering unimaginative pop beats, dull lyrics and not much else. The next four tracks sound mostly the same, all incorporating similar trap beats and shallow lyrics that do nothing to contribute to the album’s themes.Ĭhilombo picks up slightly at the halfway mark with “Tryna Smoke,” a fun track about using marijuana to escape relationship issues. After these songs, however, the album begins to fall flat. In the next two tracks, the upbeat “Speak” and “B.S.,” Aiko provides a change of pace as she celebrates her singleness and the sense of independence that comes with being single. Aiko teams up with her ex-boyfriend Big Sean to contemplate their breakup, singing, “I was traumatized and suicidal, I’m sick and tired, I am not to blame/ Once I felt a way, but not today, I’m not afraid.” The next track, “None of Your Concern,” is equally emotional and cathartic.
#JHENE AIKO SONGS FULL#
“Lotus” is followed by “Triggered,” a strong freestyle in which Aiko openly explores the confusing, intense emotions that can result from a breakup, allowing listeners to experience her anger’s full extent. Aiko sings, “There was a woman born from a Lotus/ Her heart was golden, deep as the ocean/ And then this one man, he came and broke it/ … She found her focus, the beast awoken.” With “Lotus,” Aiko prepares listeners for a journey of heartbreak, healing and self-discovery. The minute-long intro track, “Lotus,” sets the album’s tone perfectly. That being said, Chilombo ’s flaws are markedly absent throughout the first several songs. And while the album’s organization theoretically complements the journey of healing that Aiko attempts to create, its structural merits are easily forgotten because of its drawn-out length (the album is 20 tracks long and runs for more than an hour). The album’s merits, however, are obscured by salient stylistic and structural issues.Ĭhilombo has several highlights that are reminiscent of Aiko’s successful past works, but these tracks are muddled by a number of lyrically repetitive and stylistically dull songs that detract from the album’s progression.
The record incorporates everything that Aiko has done well in the past: She is known for exploring difficult romantic themes with a signature sensuality, and she successfully accomplishes this on Chilombo.
The singer sets out to fulfill this image throughout the record, crafting each song with the goal of allowing listeners to experience all of the pain and beauty that she associates with love and heartbreak.Īlthough Aiko seems to have a clear idea of what she hopes to accomplish with Chilombo, the artist doesn’t quite reach her potential. The name, which, according to Aiko, means “wild beast,” traditionally exudes images of strength, confidence and grace. “Lightning & Thunder,” her dreamy duet with John Legend, is densely atmospheric and psychedelic, like a love song in a daydream.The title of Jhené Aiko’s latest album, Chilombo, is an homage to the singer’s actual surname. Aiko is so deep in her vibe that even her heavyweight guests-which include Nas, Ty Dolla $ign, Miguel, and Future-can’t lure her out of her peaceful, low-key center. Lead singles “Triggered (freestyle)” and “None of Your Concern” (featuring Big Sean) wrap intense, defiant messages in chill lullaby beats, and “Mourning Doves,” an intimate confessional that uses wind instruments to mimic soft bird calls, toes a line between bedroom ballad and New Age hymnal. Aiko embarked on her career being known as the cousin of American R&B group B2K 's rapper, Lil' Fizz, though she is not actually related to him. They seemed to have worked: For a project about heartbreak, these songs are impressively, and infectiously, zen. The discography of Jhen Aiko, an American musical artist, consists of three studio albums, one extended play (EP), one mixtape, 17 singles (including five as a featured artist) and 21 music videos. It was an experiment in self-discovery and the healing powers of sound: Every song on Chilombo, which is also the R&B singer’s last name, features the transcendental tones of the ancient bowls, which are said to balance chakras and soothe anxiety. To record her meditative third album, Jhené Aiko retreated to the lush hills of Hawaii and surrounded herself with crystals, incense, and singing bowls.