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JHEN E A IK O AFTER YEARS SPENT TRYING TO MAKE IT ON HER OWN, THE COMELY SINGER-SONGWRITER FOUND HER PLACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT, THANKS TO A DREAMY DUET WITH DRAKE. NOW SHE’S RELEASING HER DEBUT ALBUM, WITH THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHING You may not know her name, but you know her voice. Over the past couple of years, 26-year-old R&B singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko has lent her feathery lilt—and the woozy, intoxicating mood it creates—to the tracks of some of rap’s biggest players. There was the rusty, soothing lull on Big 36 V MAGAZINE
Sean’s “Beware,” the deeply emotive whisper underlying Namiko Love, at age 20, that changed everything. “It gave Kendrick Lamar’s “Growing Apart,” work with Childish me drive. You have to make decisions: how am I going to Gambino, Wale, J. Cole, you name it—and who could for- support this child?” she says. “I decided to focus on music. get that heartrending, all-too-numbing hook (“I love me, I knew it would pay off.” I love me enough for the both of us”) the lithe West Coast Five years later, Aiko’s long-simmering ambition has stunner delivered on Drake’s “From Time.” delivered. She’ll drop her debut album, Souled Out, via “Rappers and I have similar stories, just because of Def Jam, in May. “Things are starting to change, but I’m where I come from, how I grew up, and my love of lyricism,” such a normal person that I think it will always be cool,” she says over the phone from her native L.A., referencing she offers. For now, Aiko’s focusing on telling the totality her disjointed but loving, expansive multiethnic family of her story, not a collaborator’s. It’s a narrative that will and independent city-kid upbringing. “[The collabora- take shape through layered references to relationships tions] make sense.” gone wrong, the loss of her brother, her once-absent Aiko grew up fast. “I got signed to [Sony’s] Epic father, “peace, love,” and the occasional late-night blunt, Records when I was 12—a sort of developmental deal,” all rendered in the low-lit, hazy range of Souled Out. “I’m she explains. “I was really young. I didn’t know any dif- just really sharing my real stories, you know?” she says. ferent.” The artist stuck with it for “two or three years,” “I’m very open-minded. I’m changing every day. And I’m recording demos, listening to “lots of Tupac, Dr. Dre, ’90s not ashamed. I just think it’s boring to try to pretend to R&B. I loved Brandy too. As soon as I heard her voice, I be perfect.” ASHLEY SIMPSON was like, If I had to pick a voice…” She also signed with B2K, before realizing that “they didn’t really believe in JHENÉ AIKO IN LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 2014 me as an artist. And I wanted to do regular things.” PHOTOGRAPHY GRANT SINGER FASHION AKEEM SMITH High school, two years studying at a local community DRESS DONNA KARAN JEWELRY HER OWN college, and waiting tables at a vegan café in Westwood SOULED OUT IS AVAILABLE IN MAY FROM DEF JAM Village followed. It was giving birth to her daughter, TO SEE MORE OF THIS SHOOT, GO TO VMAGAZINE.COM