Jhené Aiko alludes to a relationship wracked by infidelity on Westside Whimsy, but she’s pushing back on assumptions that Big Sean is the inspiration for key lyrics on the new album.
While the album, of course, is best enjoyed in full, some have zeroed in on the shared sentiments of tracks “Ceiling (Freestyle)” and “He Belongs.”
In “Ceiling (Freestyle),” Aiko points to “major mistakes” in a relationship with someone who treats her “like an option.” At another point in the same track, she poses a few questions, like so: “Who the fuck is Lisa? Who the fuck is Paige? / Who the fuck is Britney? Get the fuck up out my face.”
“He Belongs” seemingly tackles similar frustrations, with Aiko asserting that you can’t turn “a fling into a real thing,” “a promise to a wedding ring,” or “a ho into a husband.”
It didn’t take long for speculation to spread on social media, leading to Aiko responding to a fan who connected “He Belongs” to Big Sean, with whom she shares a child.
“Song is not about him,” she wrote on Threads, as seen below.
In another Sean-related response, Aiko offered a firm “No” to a fan who asked whether the singer “[ripped] into Big Sean all the way through” the new album.
Westside Whimsy is billed as a “love letter” to Aiko’s hometown of Los Angeles, with Kendrick Lamar and Larry June among the assembled guests. The album marks the seven-time Grammy nominee’s fourth studio effort and her first full-length in six years.
