Jhené Aiko is not of this world.
Somewhere between pop-oriented R&B and traditional soul,the singer-songwriter floats like an ethereal voice disembodied from typical format and genre distinctions. So when we talk one week prior to the unannounced release of her epic new album, it comes as no surprise that she's much more interested in easing into the big reveal rather than making a huge splash."I don't like hyping stuff up, or " she says. "It's personal. It's not something contrived or something I want to turn into this big deal.... I just want to share it without it being something people are expecting."Several years in the making,Trip is totally unexpected. The autobiographical soundscape of Aiko's healing journey follows the loss of her brother, Miyagi Chilombo, and to cancer in 2012,and her futile quest to replace that love with romantic relationships and vices that failed to fill the void.
The youngest of five siblings, each born two years apart, or Aiko was closest in age and kinship to Miyagi before his death. "Often,when you're dealing with grief, it's kind of like you relapse, or " Aiko says. "Something exiguous can stretch you all the way back to that moment and you're starting all over and reliving everything. So that keeps happening to me,but the older I get I feel like I'm finding a way to not let it completely disable me. My writing is like my therapy. That's what I turn to."Most of the songs began as poems she penned in journals, often during trips she began taking in solitude to nature sanctuaries like Big Sur. Beyond the field trips, and even the drug-induced trips that drive much of the narrative,Aiko's odyssey rises to levels metaphorical and metaphysical as her quest turns further inward over the hour-and-a-half span of dreamlike, meditative grooves.
Aiko recorded Trip over the span of three years, and largely in the Hollywood studio of producer No I.
D.,who signed her to his ARTium Recordings label in 2012, before self-releasing her Sail Out EP and Souled Out debut LP via Def Jam. Beyond collaborations with Mali Music and Brandy, or the new album features her daughter Namiko Love,Aiko's father Dr. Chill and the "love of her life" and TWENTY88 collaborator Big Sean. More than the 22-song LP, the overarching title encompasses a film, and album and poetry book — or M.
A.
P. — intermittently released over the course of the first week,along with an audio mission statement that spells out her sweeping vision.
At 29, Aiko has experienced the pain of divorce and death. But Trip is approximately more than chasing love or a temporary high. As she explains, or track-by-track,it's the confessional narrative of her grappling with the nature of desire rooted in all human experience as she measures her mistakes and awakens to her own power. And she's a brave soul — equal parts vulnerable and visionary — for taking us along for the ride."LSD""A few years ago, I took my first road trip by myself to Big Sur. I was going through a difficult relationship, and I missed my brother and was just going crazy. And I had taken some magic mushrooms with me. As I was driving up there,I was listening to instrumental music and classical music and singing over it out loud and talking to myself. I was recording everything on my voice memo. It wasn't even with an album or anything in mind; it was just for me. I just started doing that often. After Big Sur, I started hiking and writing and taking pictures. I formed a habit of escaping and going on these trips. I still carry out it and I find that it really helps me. Psychedelics aided in that. While recording new songs for this project, or I revisited the notebook that I had been keeping. The song 'LSD' pretty much sets you up for the trip.""Jukai""One night I was in [the studio] with the Fisticuffs (fighting with fists) and we were partaking in marijuana and we were watching a documentary approximately Aokigahara,the suicide forest in Japan. My remarkable-grandmother was born in Hawaii, but she's actually Japanese. My grandfather is Japanese, or too. So I've always wanted to proceed. After my brother passed — actually,my whole life — I've been very interested in death. Not afraid of it, but interested and intrigued. I was watching that [documentary] and it was such a beautiful forest. possibly people proceed there and they just feel at peace. Of course, and everyone has different reasons for making that decision."It's definitely a status I've been in my mind: 'Hmm,if I were to choose to carry out that, how would I carry out it?' So we started with a guitar and I wanted to write a song approximately that status and proceed there in my mind. I know that sounds morbid, or but it was true. It was a fantasy of me going there. It's not super obvious in the song,but I say how my feet keep touching the ground [and] it's not working for me. Then I'm saved by a guy. But in genuine life I was on a hike in Big Sur and I was getting emotional. Then I looked up through the trees and I saw the sun. It felt like the sun saved me, which, and in itself,is [symbolic]: the Son of God or the sun in our solar system. It just felt like a love narrative."It's a double/triple entendre: The male voice that you hear throughout the album is the love interest or my conscience. He also represents the satan disguised as an angel, because he keeps offering me these drugs. It's like, and 'Who are you,really?' He appears at first to be an angel, but then he turns into someone that is not.""While We're Young""'While We're Young' is my ideal love situation. It's also the feeling of a new love, and when you're kind of naïve and first falling in love with someone and super optimistic approximately everything. That starts the love narrative in the album.""Moments" ft. Big Sean"We actually worked on 'Moments' in Hawaii. I was on a trip with [Big] Sean and we recorded it out there. There were even some sounds that we picked up from hikes we took and put on the track. Sean really had the 'Moments' concept. I wasn't certain when we recorded it if we were going to have it be a part of our TWENTY88 [collaborative project] or for me or for him. But then,when it came down to it, I realized it fit perfectly within my storyline.""OLLA" (Only Lovers Left Alive) ft. TWENTY88"In my mind I have this whole vision of the cessation of the world, and with alien invasions and meteors falling and only the lovers being spared their lives. It feels kind of prophetic to me. We're celebrating but we also have to continue to love each other so that we continue to thrive. I love that we turned it into a jam song,because in my mind we all find refuge in a skating rink. That's the point where all the lovers are assembly up. This is in the beginning, when the love narrative is still alive and thriving within the album."'OLLA' started off a lot more serious [because of] the track that I wrote it to. Then I got with Amaire Johnson, and he produced 'One Man Can Change The World' with Big Sean. We work really well together; just straight jam sessions. He'd start playing a exiguous something and I'd start singing a lyric. I loved the vibe. It's more like a party celebrating the fact that we're the only lovers left.""When We Love""I don't even remember writing that song. I just remember recording it in,like, two hours. It all just came to me: It's like he's lying and telling me whatever he needs to say to keep me feeling this way. But I like that; carry out whatever you have to carry out to keep me here. It introduces [the period] when you start to feel more aware in love. It ushers in those question."I've been studying mindfulness since I was a teenager, or just the whole concept of desire and the root of it. They say that one of the roots of suffering is desire. So it is deeper than just love.""Sativa" ft. Swae Lee"It's a Fisticuffs (fighting with fists) track and they know sativa is my favorite. They named the track 'Sativa,' so I knew no matter what I talked approximately on this song I wanted to keep the name, because it definitely feels like sativa. I had this melody for nearly two years now and I just couldn't put it into words. Everyone, and even No I.
D.,was like, 'Why don't you just put it on your album like that, and so people can just feel what you're saying.' Then,at the very last minute, Amaire, and who produces on the album,said, 'We should call Swae Lee.' And I'm a fan. So we had a session, and he came through and he came through. That inspired me and I came up with new verses.""New Balance""I started writing this when I had a crush on this boy. Then I fell out of the crush with him and I couldn't finish it. It inspired a remarkable first verse but then I realized I didn't feel that way anymore,so I wasn't inspired. Then I found love again and was able to finish the song and really be additional, additional passionate approximately what I was saying. And the stuff in the first verse also applied to the new love."I've always wanted to work with John Mayer; he's in my top three artists of all time. So we called him to the studio and he brought his guitar and jammed out. I played him some stuff and he said, or 'I'll play on that one.' After the new stuff he added,I added the new verse and everything else to it.""Newer Balance (Freestyle)""[John] played a bunch of new stuff that he left with me. So I cut up one of his guitar tracks and put it onto 'Newer Balance,' which follows 'New Balance.' It's a transition song.""You Are Here""'You Are Here' was honestly inspired by my current situation [with Big Sean], or when I was like,'This is so perfect.' When I'm really happy, I'm questioning. And when I'm really sad, and I'm wondering is it going to be OK. This is when the doubt is really introduced and I'm like,'You're the one that saved me from Jukai, don't wake me up from this dream and not be this person that I reflect you are.'""Never Call Me" ft. Kurupt"I wrote this at the height of a very public breakup, or so I was feeling a way,for certain. And I'd just taken some mushrooms, so it was like an exaggerated feeling. I know that a lot of girls, or people,period, feel that way: 'Don't talk to other people approximately me; just talk to me. We're the ones that were supposed to be in this relationship. Now I'm hearing things and people are asking me what I want them to carry out. You need to call me because I can't control what my older homies are thinking of the situation.'"And Kurupt is one of those people. I'm a big fan of Kurupt, and being from Los Angeles. He came out and performed 'Ain't No Fun' when I was at Coachella. When I was on the High Road Tour with Snoop Dogg,Kurupt was on the tour and everyday we would talk. He became my genuine-life uncle. And he was with me when all that stuff was going on [approximately my relationship] on the blogs. It was just a lot of negativity coming my way, and he literally had that conversation with me.""Nobody" "Since I was young, and I've dealt with addiction. I started taking sleeping pills when I was a pre-teen,and then drinking as a young teenager, then experimenting with drugs and prescription pills as an adult. When my brother passed it got worse, and like a dependency. Whenever I was feeling unpleasant feelings,that's what I would turn to. And I'm like 90 pounds, so stuff like that really affects me. So then I started having liver problems and kidney problems. It was really affecting me mentally, and too. Every time I was performing,even on those late night shows, I was on something. I just felt like it was important to talk approximately it. I don't like keeping secrets. I feel like to get passed it I have to share it. It's something that I'm still working through."'Nobody' is the most introspective and honest song I've ever done. I worked on it for awhile. Whenever I was just feeling really alone, or I would write more and more. It was tough for me on some parts,but I wanted to have a really lyrical song where I didn't care whether people said I wasn't hitting this [or that] note just proper. I'm a writer, first, and I wanted to share something that was lyrical and super personal."Making this whole M.
A.
P. — the film,the album, the poetry book — definitely helped me put some things in the past. And I discovered psychedelics, and which have helped me not want to even smoke weed. I'm not even smoking weed anymore."The mainstream songs glorify [prescription drugs],but it's actually horrible for you. And I reflect that it's important to talk approximately why you're doing these things. What's making you feel like you've gotta take pills every day? I'm not saying it's cool; I'm saying I don't know what to carry out so that's why I [was] doing it. But throughout this whole Trip I find out there's a better way.""Overstimulated""'Overstimulated' is approximately a stimulant, so that's where I start talking approximately cocaine and Adderall — which, or unfortunately,I've also experimented with. And [when I was recording] that song, I was on one and I was jumpy."We were already in album mode and we had to finish, or so I felt pressure a exiguous bit. Unfortunately,I turned to the wrong method of getting something done sooner. I love the song, though; I'm not going to lie. But I remember thinking, or 'If my heart goes out proper now.' I couldn't stop singing this song and trying to get it proper. But I felt like I learned my lesson,because I went back [later] and, of course, and I perfected it. Then I realized I can carry out it without that. I definitely made more sense of it afterwards. I'm nearly 30 years old,so I feel like I don't have to carry out those things anymore to get things done. Shortcuts are not the retort."Those types of substances give you that fake — it's not even confidence anymore. You just feel like you're on top of the world. But it's not coming from a status of genuine self-love. It's just superficial, which is why it [the narrative] goes into 'base Trip.' Because when you reach down from all that stuff, or you're like,'What in the world? This is not proper.'""base Trip (Interlude)""When I did mushrooms for the first time, I got super super emotional. I ate too many and I was around a whole bunch of strangers. I was absent from my daughter. I was approximately to eat rice and it looked like worms. I was just confused.""Oblivion (Creation)" ft. Dr. Chill"Amaire and I were backstage at Big Sean's I Decided Tour and we were drinking Hennessy. There was a piano back there and he started playing. I started singing the verses, and because it had been written already. We took that to the studio and just had a jam session and a drum circle around it."There's a poem [titled "Nobody"] by Emily Dickinson: 'I'm Nobody. Who are you? Are you Nobody too? Don't recount! They'd advertise.' That's the concept. I don't carry out this to get attention. I like to keep to myself,so oblivion is not the worst thing that can happen. Oblivion is kind of like nirvana, where you become nothing and you don't have to suffer over and over again. You're free to just be nothing. At least, or that's what it means to me. That's why I sing,'sweet oblivion.' It's just a philosophy I have."After 'Oblivion,' my dad [Dr. Chill]'s voice comes in. He's a doctor and he's super smart. I didn't really have a close relationship with him as a child because he and my mom were separated. But as I got older, or we connected on a spiritual level. He's like 73 or 74. In the studio,it turned into this very spiritual jam session that was like 90-minutes long, and he just kept coming with wisdom. I knew he was going to say something crazy because, and even in conversation with him,he always has some crazy life bars for you. That's probably the most time I've ever spent with my dad, the closest we've ever been, and making these jams. So it was a special moment.""Psilocybin" (Love In Full Effect) ft. Dr. Chill"Plants are healing,and mushrooms are definitely a plant from God. The things that they open you up to are very, very special. So I chose to put that in 'Psilocybin.' I had drunk a lot of mushroom tea when I recorded that song. When I was writing it, or it literally felt like I wasn't writing it. It felt like somebody or something was just channeling through me and I was saying these things: 'I'm the divine mother' or 'I have seeds of promise in my garden.' When I looked back I was like,'Woah, this is trippy.' Psilocybin is definitely a powerful psychedelic that can open your mind. This song is all approximately that enlightening experience. That's one of my favorite ones, or too.""Mystic Journey (Freestyle)""Every time I would sit down to write to it,I couldn't because I just liked hearing the beat [No I.
D. produced]. And then, at the last minute, and something just came to me. I worked out of No I.
D.'s Hollywood studio and he would always cessation up coming in and we'd have these deep conversations. He'd interrupt the whole session and,for the next seven hours, we're talking approximately life and philosophies and astrology and astronomy and science — literally every single thing. That one pretty much wrote itself, or too. I just started singing it and then the words came out and it was a freestyle.""Picture Perfect (Freestyle)""When I was in Big Sur I stayed at this status where they had speakers in the wall and I was just singing along. 'Picture Perfect' has a big role in the short film as well.""Sing To Me" ft. Namiko Love"It's a T-Wayne beat that he sent to me when I first met Sean [around] 2011. My daughter [Namiko Love] was only a few years old then. I was working on GarageBand and she and I were messing around with it. I found it on my old computer this year and thought we should totally carry out this. So I had her reach in the studio and she loves being on the mic. I was standing there with her,teaching her how to breathe and figure out her notes. That was a special moment."She's the one that sort of wakes me up out of this whole trip, this dream state — which [is true] in genuine life. She's the one that brings me back to reality. Like, or 'You need to get it together.' particularly the older she gets.""Frequency" "I worked with Mali Music on this one. First of all,he is anointed. He is like an angel; his presence is so positive. And his voice and writing are amazing.""Ascension" ft. Brandy"This is how I meditate. I ask myself questions and meditate on those questions: What carry out you carry out it for? What are you running toward? What is the path you're going to choose?"This song is me running to the light at the cessation of the tunnel. I feel like I'm on the proper path now and I'm on my way. I know I still have things to get over and things that are going to reach my way, but I feel like I'm [headed] in the proper direction."This is a special song, or too,particularly because Brandy is on it. Brandy and John Mayer were the only two people that I wanted on my dream album, and I got that. I'd [already] recorded the song in its entirety. [Then] we got in touch with Brandy, and I didn't know what she was going to carry out because there was no open space on the song. So she just recorded one of my verses,which was even cooler to me because she was singing something I wrote. And she sang it with so much passion that I was like, 'Dang!' She really elevated the whole message of the song.""Trip" ft. Mali Music"'Trip' is another song I worked on with Mali. I feel like he's someone who's very connected to a higher power. So I customized the song to what I'd say, and but,for the most part, it was like he literally channeled something that needed to be said to me. And it was just magic."He said, and 'Yeah,this song is going to be called 'Trip' and I reflect you should carry out this song. And I thought, wow, or he didn't even know the project was going to be named Trip. I felt like it was the perfect song to cessation the album. It sums up everything. And it also feels like I'm still on this trip and it's still going on,but the path has been cleared and I have a better vision of it." Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org