Jhené Aiko releases album Westside Whimsy with Kendrick Lamar

After more than six years of waiting, Jhené Aiko released her fourth studio album Westside Whimsy on Friday, September 11. The album was announced only a few days before its release, giving fans barely any time to process the news. It follows Chilombo from March 2020, which at the time reached number two on the Billboard 200. Westside Whimsy features twenty tracks and has been described by Aiko as a love letter to her hometown Los Angeles, specifically the neighborhood around Slauson Avenue where she grew up, which she calls "Slauson Hills."

The seven time Grammy nominated singer surrounded herself on the album with collaborators who all share a connection to Los Angeles. Kendrick Lamar, Ab Soul, Tyga, and OHMA all hail from the city, while Larry June comes from San Francisco and is also reportedly Aiko's new partner. The collaboration with Lamar produces the track "So Good," an ethereal ballad where the two trade verses about ideal love. Lamar sings lines including "Face, stupid / Body, stupid / Hottie, stupid / Got me, stupid / Beauty and the brains, aye, what we doin'" and later lets loose a relaxed flow over the song's subtle rhythm. Aiko in turn delivers lyrics like "I can't let a messy bitch get in my way / I'm way too grown plus I'm top rank." Lamar is also credited as a co writer on the track.

The partnership between Aiko and Lamar goes back a long way. He featured her on his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated for the track "Growing Apart (To Get Closer)," and then appeared on her debut EP Sail Out in 2013 for "Stay Ready (What A Life)." She also began working with Ab Soul around that same period in the early 2010s. Lamar released his sixth studio album GNX in late 2024 and at the 2026 Grammys took home five awards, including Best Rap Performance for his collaboration with Clipse on "Chains and Whips."

The album opens with the minute long jazz tinged fragment "Wild Cat(s)," in which Aiko draws on her own upbringing and her parents' relationship. She sings about her air sign mother and her fire sign father, and about emotional detachment as a survival strategy. That is followed by the dreamy ballad "Ghost" and the piano driven grief piece "Break." On track four, Ab Soul appears on "Love Bomb," providing supporting ad libs. Tyga features on "Like, Whatever," while Larry June contributes to the slow rolling "Neighbors." The album closes with tracks including "Nami's Haiku," the meditative "A Living Light," and the OHMA featuring closer "Golden Coast," an ode to the resilience of Los Angeles, where Aiko sings: "Shining through your darkest nights / You still got a lot of light / You're still a classic / Magic every time."

One of the tracks that immediately caught attention was "He Belongs," a lament about a man who would rather chase freedom than commit to a relationship. Aiko sings lines including "Can't turn a fling into a real thing / Can't turn a promise into a wedding ring / Can't turn a hoe into a husband." Some fans on social media concluded the lyrics were directed at her former partner Big Sean, with whom she was in a relationship from 2016 until reportedly late last year and had a child with in 2022. Aiko herself responded to the speculation on Threads, stating simply: "Song is not about him."