It’s been about 11 years since a 15-year-old Jhené Aiko asked to be released from her contract with Epic Records. In that time, the honey-voiced singer and songwriter has found her feet. This debut appears at first to fall under a future R&B categorisation, but soon billows into a concept album that spans neo-soul, dark alt-pop and a few licks of psychedelia. As an artist who openly admits to writing music while stoned, Aiko sprinkles an ethereal and spiritual coating over songs about rebuilding oneself after hitting rock bottom. The single The Pressure, in which she mellifluously asks if we’ve seen her “fucks to give”, demonstrates her talent for combining sweetly sung melisma with introspective subject matter. After a commercially successful 2013 EP and spots on tracks by Drake and Childish Gambino, Aiko is seizing her own moment. She may purr like a revamped Ashanti, but she sounds tough as nails when it matters.
