Jhené Aiko is an American R&B singer-songwriter born in Los Angeles in 1988, whose soft, atmospheric style traces back to her early-2000s days alongside B2K. Chilombo (2020), built around sound-healing instruments, earned eight Grammy nominations — start there or with Souled Out (2014). Browse Jhené Aiko vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo was born in Los Angeles, California on March 16, 1988. She is of Black, Spanish, Native American, and Japanese descent. She launched her music career as a teenager affiliated with the R&B group B2K in the early 2000s before launching her solo work in earnest in 2011. She signed with Def Jam through No I.D.'s Artium Recordings imprint and released the EP Sail Out in 2013, with her debut full-length Souled Out following in 2014. Her album Chilombo (2020) was built around Sound Bath production approaches using sound healing instruments, with eight Grammy nominations. She has been romantically involved with Big Sean since 2016, with the couple having one son together (Noah, born 2022).
Jhené Aiko's sound combines R&B, contemporary R&B, alternative R&B, soul, hip hop soul, and ambient with her distinctive soft vocal delivery, atmospheric production approaches drawing on sound healing traditions, and lyrical content addressing relationships, spirituality, motherhood, and personal experience.
Def Jam pressings of the Jhené Aiko catalog have been issued in multiple color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings.
Listeners new to Jhené Aiko typically start with Chilombo (2020) or Souled Out (2014).
