The album opens to the calming sounds of jazz piano, complete with the crackles of a record playing as Aiko introduces the concept of the album in a brief intro made to sound as classic and old-fashioned as the way Aiko presents her talents here. The music is neither her all-time most hypnotic or engaging, more disjointed than her previous works, but I could still listen to Aiko’s voice all day no matter what. Recorded with the use of Tibetan singing bowls, a commonly used practice for healing in alternative medicine – practiced professionally by her father, who appears on her music once again – almost everything here sounds peaceful and tranquil, Aiko’s heavenly vocals floating above and sometimes coming back down to earth with some cutting punchlines and rapper-style braggadocio as she asserts her self-worth living the single life. On her latest project Chilombo, titled after her real last name, she takes much more solace in herself, building up her self-confidence and finding healing in an entirely new way after things with that certain special person went sideways.

Jhené Aiko’s last album, Trip, a 90-minute highly conceptual masterpiece, revolved around the process of healing in finding a special person to share life with and escape from all the other miseries surrounding her.

Jhené aiko chilombo