Jhené Aiko Teases 'Special Project' & John Mayer Collaborations
Jhené Aiko has something “special” up her sleeve.
During an interview with Nylon, the Los Angeles songstress revealed that she’s “excited” to share it with the world “soon.”
“I’ve been working on a special project for coming up on three years,” she said. “I’m excited to share that. It’s been a very tedious and personal thing, and it involves everything that I do. Growing up, singing was always my hobby. It was just something that I did to feel good. Whenever I was sad or mad, I would just sing about it, make up a little song about it. And I feel like writing and acting and just expressing myself have always been things that I wanted to develop as an artist, so what I’ve been working on pretty much involves everything that I feel is my passion, rolled into one. That’s why it’s been three years that I’ve been working on it, and I’d like to share it with everyone soon.”
However, Aiko stopped shy of calling it “an album,” saying it’s “a project” and an “experience.” “It’s definitely bigger than anything I’ve ever done,” she explained. “Writing has always been my real passion. If I wasn’t gonna do anything else, I’d be writing and creating—and I feel like writing is creating. This is why it’s taken me so much time. Nothing I do is rushed. How I work is very grassroots, with a small amount of people that just really care about what I’m trying to do and my vision.”
One of those people is John Mayer. “He’s helping me with some music,” she said. “I’m a die-hard John Mayer fan—there’re only like three people that I’m die-hard for, and he’s one of them. We met a while ago and had a session, and I was really, really sick. It was bittersweet because I couldn’t give all my energy to the session, but I knew that I had to be there because I didn’t know if it would ever happen again. So during that session, I worked on some stuff and he was like, ‘Let’s do more.'”
As far as solo material, the special project is set to follow her 2014 debut Souled Out. However, in March, Aiko teamed up with Big Sean for their joint project TWENTY88, an album that was accompanied by a short film titled “Out of Love.”
Beyond that, Jhené has launched a limited-edition collaboration with Teva footwear, which includes three sandal designs inspired by the friendship bracelets she used to make with her siblings growing up.
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