Illustration by Clara Hollowgrass
It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since Jhene Aiko, the Los Angeles born R&B singer, released her debut solo LP Souled Out. In that time she’s had more than a handful of features, public relationships, and even a collaboration EP with Big Sean. Aiko was one of the first female acts of this new generation to start the resurrection of the airy, laid back vocals of the Sades and Aaliyahs before her. Since her introduction as a featured artist on numerous Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) projects that were on the rise, there have been countless artists that have followed the same path that Aiko has and found success in doing so, some even more than her. Regardless, she has maintained a strong core fan base and remained a go-to feature artist for rappers.
The first thing that listeners will notice with one glance of Trip’s tracklist is the length. At 22 songs, it runs just under an hour and a half. Although this has become a regular occurrence for artists with the rise of the streaming era, it isn’t necessarily a welcome one, especially with artists whose music stays on a certain path without switching up on musical variety very often. That’s not to say that Aiko hasn’t produced some compelling music, but 85 minutes asks for constant ebbs and flows for a truly successful album, and can be a challenge for any artist. Her lack of variety in her stylings end up disappointing and lackluster, and only bring her to falter in standing out from the latest wave of R&B artist to hit the market.
Where the album is at its best is when the instrumentation falls in line with Aiko’s voice and swagger. When she connects those dots, she creates a groove that won’t let up. One example is the sparse “New Balance.” Aiko’s voice has been described by many as soothing, relaxing or smooth, but backed by just a piano, elegant seems like a more appropriate word to use. The melodies are wonderful as well as it all culminates nicely with drums kicking in after about two and a half minutes of just her and the piano. She finds a similar groove on “Never Call Me,” which is another strong single candidate for best song on the album. Actual single and standout, “While We’re Young” is classic Aiko, but with quite a bit more pop sensibility added to it. Backed by one of the better videos of the year, how this song hasn’t gained more traction than it currently has seems like a travesty. Maybe with the release of the album it will gain more steam. Throughout the album Aiko has tracks that she lists as “freestyles.” Most of them end up playing out as full songs, so their meaning could be deeper than just Aiko messing around in the studio. “Picture Perfect” is one of these “freestyles” and probably the most stripped down moment of the entire Trip. Her voice is the highlight as it sounds more raw and prominent than it usually does, which is rare for Aiko. The vulnerability is permeable on tracks like this, and helps build upon the message she’s ultimately trying to convey. Towards the end of the album, Aiko has a moment of reflection. On “Frequency,” her voice sounds more assured than ever before. Not to say that she hides behind the beat, but she is more known for creating mood than making herself the focus of songs. She seems like she’s had a moment of realization almost as if some profound experience occurred on her acid trip and she is looking at life in a whole new light. She sounds thankful for what she has and strives to do better. It is one of the rare moments of a song really standing out from the rest on the project. This brings up the biggest issue with Trip. Redundancy. There are so many great things about the music that Aiko makes, but none of them warrant a 22 track album to be effective. After repeated listens of the album, the songs named in this review were the only ones that even begged me to pull my phone out of my pocket to see which song was playing. Her style of singing doesn’t require focus to appreciate. Most of the songs on the album just sort of bleed into one another like those “relaxing,” or “chill,” playlists on Spotify and Apple Music. If you’re looking for an album that you can put on in the background and vibe out to without any interruptions, Trip is the album that you need to check out. However, if you’re looking for something a little more concise and memorable in such a crowded landscape of R&B, this will probably sound like songs you’ve heard a hundred times over and isn’t worth checking out. Unfortunately, relentless consistency is Aiko’s most notable strength as well as her greatest downfall.