Jhene Aiko knows a lil’ something about pressure: The honey-voiced alterna-R&B songstress’ debut LP is due out a little later this summer, and she’s got a whole lot o’ hype and promo and nonsense to deal with in order to break out into the mainstream. (But fuck all that, seriously.)
After dropping her latest cut “To Love & Die,” the singer’s quickly followed up the release with the premiere of a new Souled Out late night smooth jam called “The Pressure” — an ode to exactly that.
The Cali darling puts her usual melodic touch on the hazy Fisticuffs production, sensually drifting along dreamy echoing guitars, throbbing bass beats, atmospheric soundscapes and thick plumes of weed smoke. That’s when she embraces her inner RiRi: “Have you seen my fucks to give? I have none, I cannot live with the pressure,” she dreamily inquires.
“I would consider myself a lyricist before anything,” she told Vogue. If that line isn’t poetry, I don’t know what is. #PhuckYoPressure!
Top 40 radio material? Not quite. Like the bulk of Jhene’s material, this one’s all about the vibez. Just keep doing your thing, Jhene. Who needs that kind of pressure, anyway?
Souled Out will be released on August 25. (iTunes)