Jhene Aiko’s Trip has some stand out moments but ultimately falls short

Jhene Aiko’s surprise new album Trip is an aptly titled journey into the mind of the 29 year-old singer, as she meditates on love, life and what is to exist in the wake of her younger brother’s untimely death from cancer. The album is something of a behemoth, made up of 22 individual tracks to comprise a 90 minute-long run time, and was dropped alongside a 20 minute-long short film –  with no warning whatsoever.

It’s a brave move for a young artist of Aiko’s stature to make, and it’s clear that this constitutes something of a passion project for her. Indeed, she has stated in an accompanying press release of the catharsis she experienced recording it, and how the process helped her to overcome the grief she was still struggling with at the time. Yet out of this dark time in her life, Aiko has managed to craft a high-spirited work filled with joy and an appreciation for life.

…while the music is extremely ear-pleasing, and Aiko’s voice is as alluring as ever, it’s not unique enough to be especially memorable

 Tonally, she has opted for an ethereally soft aural quality, giving each song the effect of gently bleeding into the next, while maintaining the hallucinogenic-inspired aesthetic. This has the effect of producing a record that is extremely easy on the ears, but does give rise to the issue of many of the songs sounding very similar and indistinct. A further issue is that while the music is extremely ear-pleasing, and Aiko’s voice is as alluring as ever, it’s not unique enough to be especially memorable when compared to the vast majority of modern smooth RnB, outside of a few select tracks. One example is the second track, ‘Jukai’, a guitar-propelled piece in which Aiko discusses what it is to truly be mortal in a gentle, entrancing manner that utilises Aiko’s unique talent to maximal effect. However, as the shining tracks are so rare, it does call into question the purpose of the immense run-time, and one can’t help but wonder if the piece wouldn’t benefit from considerable streamlining.

The overarching concept is one that follows the basic path of a lengthy drug trip (hence the opening track ‘LSD’), which begins saccharine sweet and full of love, before eventually beginning to sour through the experience of a bad trip, before changing entirely. Generally, this is executed in an interesting and engaging manner, with an obvious highlight of the album being the ear-catching transition into a bad trip, from ‘Overstimulated’ through to ‘Oblivion (Creation)’. Here Aiko changes the tempo and the tone of the songs enough to draw the listener’s attention without jarring against the style of the album, and towards the end of ‘Bad Trip (Interlude)’ manages to quite efficiently communicate some of the genuine panic of going through a bad drug experience.

…the album touches moments of profundity and true sincerity for Aiko, it can also fall into the trap of being somewhat too small for its boots

The album is also peppered with features of varying quality, including Big Sean’s turn on ‘Moments’ where he is at times both hopelessly corny and effortlessly cool. In general, while the album touches moments of profundity and true sincerity for Aiko, it can also fall into the trap of being somewhat too small for its boots, with Aiko at times seeming to rely upon the fact of her “Trip” as a substitute for the kind of moments of revelation that should be arising from said trip. Overall, Trip is well intentioned and can be listened to easily in the background but Aiko’s album markedly falls short as the piece of art it is clearly attempting to be.