Jhene Aiko is currently one of the hottest rising female artists in R&B and even more globally in Hip Hop. She just released her Sail Out EP on November 12th, which included "3:16AM" and the "Bed Peace (Remix)" with Childish Gambino, as well as new singles like "Stay Ready" with Kendrick Lamar. This is an artist who sings to entertain, but at the same time is doing what she loves for a living. What's exceptional about Jhene's career is that she's making choices we don't often see today in R&B singers
Jhene grew up around music: classic 90's Hip Hop and R&B. What changed in the 90's with respect to R&B was that it was infused with a hip hop influence, and its subject matter expanded. It was a grittier form of what people already loved and respected about the genre. The truthful lyrics and soulfulness was brought to life with a little more edge. Today is seems most people talk about R&B, especially of this kind, as a thing of the past. Much of the soul lost in pop music. The ballads replaced by electronica. But all of this 90's classic R&B can still be found in Jhene's lyrics and style. It built the foundation of what she actively tries to do with the music she creates for people today. Her father built a homemade studio to record music and her two sisters were in a music group called Gyrl. When she got her first record deal she was just thirteen years old. Two years later, she opted out to focus on school
I was super young. All of the things you learn when you’re going through adolescence … it was times 10, I was dealing with adults telling me what to wear, what they didn’t like, that my skin was bad.Jhene's brand new EP, Sail Out, is projected to sell 25,000 to 30,000 copies in the first week available. Sail Out will likely only sell around 75,000; a pitiful number in the music industry but fantastic for an EP. But despite industry numbers, Sail Out might be EP of the year. She has collabs with Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and long-time friend Ab-Soul. The project is also packed with powerful solo tracks such as "3:16" and "Comfort Inn Freestyle". Was this the best R&B piece of all time? No. Was it one of the top releases of the year? Maybe. Was this R&B project authentic to the artist and relatable to listeners? Yes
Rihanna is the embodiment of a pop singer. Popular, main-stream, many times platinum, and sitting on a label helmed by one of the biggest music industry moguls. Meanwhile, Jhene's career seems to depict a more unlikely singing superstar. Both have a pretty voice that can carry a song and get you hooked. Jhene performed at Barclays Center in her bare feet on fellow rapper Drake's tour, and at just 5'2" she held the enormous stage. Rihanna plays for tens of thousands nightly and her tracks feel like crowd anthems. Jhene, however, is an artist that said you should listen to her song "alone with a joint", according to the LA Times
Jhene and Rihanna do have some things in common. They both enjoy a good blunt, and whether positive or negative, an undeniable factor for female artists is sex appeal, something both have, though RiRi has clealry capitalized on. Their genetic makeup is also somewhat untraditional in genre. Rihanna was born in her native Barbados, and is also Irish. But while her accent was definitely divergent from the singers in her category early on, she's arguably less ambiguous than Jhene who is part Japanese, African American, Spanish, and Native American. Does Jhene's untraditional ethnicity change her career prospects?
But beyond pretty voices and good songs, it's how Jhene is different from Rihanna that's interesting. Jhene just might actually be the antithesis of Rihanna. Take for example her lyrics. Rihanna, though clearly suggestive, mostly only insinuates topics like sex or drugs. Jhene, on the other hand, unapologetically talks about these topics in her music. Often deeply personal, her music is something very real, and her strong desire to avoid being fake might explain the honesty in her lyrics. She describes her experiences in love, betrayal, happiness or sadness, (even to the point of possibly referencing suicide), even bad intentions and thoughts. No matter the consequence or response, Jhene is striving to be someone fans can relate to
Now I’m just so sure of who I am as an artist. With this deal and these new projects, it’s really just me. I can’t accept singing someone else’s songs. Or having someone telling me I need to dress like this, or do my hair like that. As I grew up and I saw the politics behind everything I thought it was so crucial for me to build a strong mentality and be sure of what I wanted to do with music so when I went into meetings I would be like this is what I'm going to do, this is what I'm not going to do, either you’re going to work with me or you’re not.While Rihanna writes just mere bits of her own songs, Jhene writes nearly all her own lyrics. On her mixtape, Sailing Soul(s), Jhene wrote all but one song, and she wrote every track on her new EP. Moreover, she stays honest throughout, (even though both artists are somewhat unapologetic), but she does it all the time. Rihanna has a songwriter by the name of Ester Dean that has written most of her biggest hits for her, and even tried to make a career out of it herself. Jhene, on the other hand, takes this task upon herself. She describes having to actually push herself through her feelings to try to write the lyrics in her songs, so as to put herself into her work, and thus let fans know who the real Jhene Aiko is. (And weed is a big part of her writing process.)
But before they were ever in the spotlight, the way in which these artists' careers were built is perhaps the biggest contrast. Rihanna was just about hand-picked by Jay Z, and ended up signing to his RocNation label. In some respects, she was crafted by Jay and his aesthetic. Jhene's experience was much different -- she even recalls meeting with a label and trying to "sell herself". Jhene went home and came up with the phrase she has used since. So instead of one major cosign, Jhene's rise was through real-life relationships and collaborations with friends who also happened to be other rising stars. And while she has since signed to Def Jam, it's obvious she hasn't lost the messages or honesty in her lyrics and even kept her production consistent
And once their footing in the industry was established, their choice features, despite some crossover, have continued to vary. Rihanna's Jay-affiliation and pop star status has meant features from some of the biggest names in the industry (Kanye West, Eminem, and Chris Brown). She's had a legacy of legendary record producers and rappers with her from the beginning of her career, and one could argue they were given to her. Jhene's collaborations, including TDE, Vince Staples from Odd Future, Childish Gambino, J Cole, and even Gucci Mane, are more unconventional and varied -- likely the result of artistic inspiration or real relationships
In the end, what sets Jhene apart is what she has chosen to do differently from the norm: she writes all her own stuff, her collaborators are relationships she's built over several years, and the fact that she puts actual raw emotion into her songs. It's the meaning behind sailing your soul. It's what she inspires to do and who she inspires that makes her different. She's not afraid to take risks or to address criticism from other people. Perhaps the reason that Jhene is so overlooked is the fact that she does keep it real. Maybe RiRi will always have a more successful career because her sound, her lyrics, and her image is more commercial, and even conformist. Maybe, with the EP and her upcoming album, Jhene can prove to the critics that while she's less pop or glossy than an artist like RiRi, being real is what fans really want anyway
