''Trip'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko. It was released on September 22, 2017, by ARTium and Def Jam Recordings. It succeeds Aiko's debut album '' Souled Out'' (2014), which was released three years prior, and the collaborative album '' Twenty88'' (2016), while releasing numerous non-album singles in between. The production on the album was primarily handled by frequent collaborators Dot da Genius, Fisticuffs, No I.D. and Key Wane, along with several other

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

s such as Amaire Johnson, Frank Dukes,

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer and songwriter. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall ...

, Cashmere Cat and Mike Zombie. The album also includes guest appearances from Big Sean, Swae Lee, Kurupt,

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

, Mali Music, Aiko's father, with the moniker, Dr. Chill, Aiko's daughter, Namiko Love, and

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

. ''Trip'' was released without prior announcement, supported by the lead single " While We're Young". ''Trip'' received generally positive reviews from critics and was a moderate commercial success. The album debuted at number five on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 32,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s in its first week. It was also certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) in November 2018.

Background

In September 2014, Aiko released her debut album, '' Souled Out'', which was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. In 2016, Aiko collaborated with American rapper Big Sean for the 8-track album '' Twenty88'' as a duo under the same name. ''Trip'' was originally announced in under the name ''TRIP 17'', creating anticipation with non-album singles such as "Maniac", "First Fuck" with 6lack, and "Hello Ego" with

between 2016 throughout early and mid-2017. Describing the album's conception, Aiko stated that she wanted to create an album to showcase all of her personalities and express these. The album was inspired by different kinds of trips Aiko has experienced including mental, physical, and psychedelic.

Composition

Music and lyrics

According to ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', ''Trip'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

that "aims to translate the hallucinogenic highs of weed, LSD, and shrooms into sound", with "Aiko’s voice

lending In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

well into the spare,

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

-inspired productions".

Promotion

A 23-minute autobiographical film titled after the album was released a day before ''Trip'' on September 21, 2017, co-directed by Aiko. On October 11, 2017, Aiko announced a headlining North American concert tour in support of the album titled "Trip (The Tour)" with Willow Smith, Kitty Cash and Kodie Shane that will take place in November and December 2017, and a European leg was later announced. Aside from her own tour, Aiko toured with American singer-songwriter

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...

during January 2018 on the LA to the Moon Tour.

Singles

" While We're Young", premiered on June 8, 2017, along with its music video directed by Jay Ahn. It was released for digital download as the album's lead single on June 9. A remix of "

Sativa Sativa, sativus, and sativum are Latin botanical adjectives meaning '' cultivated''. It is often associated botanically with plants that promote good health and used to designate certain seed-grown domestic crops. Usage ''Sativa'' (ending in -a) ...

", featuring Rae Sremmurd, was released as a single on January 22, 2018. It Peaked At Number 74 At The ''

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

''.

Critical reception

Trey Alston of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'' believed the album to be "a moody yet breezy continuation of iko'sestablished aesthetic that ultimately lacks growth of her musical capabilities". In a positive review of the album, ''

'' explains "''Trip'' works because it isn't just about self-medicating or journeying through a grief-ridden mind."

Commercial performance

''Trip'' debuted at number five on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 32,000

s (including 10,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week. This became Aiko's fourth US top-ten debut. The album also accumulated a total of 37.8 million on-demand audio streams of the album's songs during the tracking week. On November 29, 2018, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States. In 2018, ''Trip'' was ranked as the 126th most popular album of the year on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Track listing

Credits adapted from Jhené Aiko's official website. Notes * signifies a co-producer * signifies an additional producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and Aiko's website. Performance * Jhené Aiko – primary artist * Big Sean – featured artist * Twenty88 – featured artist * Swae Lee – featured artist * Kurupt – featured artist * Dr. Chill(Karamo chilombo,Jhene's father) – featured artist * Namiko Love(Jhené's daughter) – featured artist *

– featured artist * Mali Music – featured artist * 6LACK – vocals *

– featured artist Instrumentation * Doc Allison – cello * Chris Johnson – trombone * Sojung Lee – guitar * Jamelle Adisa – trumpet * Keith McKelley – tenor saxophone * Peter Lee Johnson – talk box * Felix Oquendo – saxophone *

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

– bass , guitar , electric guitar * David Meyers, Jr. – drums * Gracie Spout – harp * Amaire Johnson – ocarina * Bubby – bass * Martin Fredriksson – bass , percussion * Maxwell Karmazyn – strings * Nicholas Kennerly – strings Production * Jhené Aiko – executive production, production , additional production * Taz – executive production * Fisticuffs – co-executive production, production , co-production * Amaire Johnson – co-executive production, production , additional production * Dot da Genius – production , co-production * Noel Cadastre – production * Julian-Quan Viet Le – production * John Mayer – production *

– production * Cashmere Cat – production * Frank Dukes – production * Mike Zombie – production * Trakgirl – production * No I.D. – production * Julian-Quan Viet Le – production * KeY Wane – production * Mali Music – production * Mike Moore – additional production * Woodro Skillson – additional production Technical * John Ralph Orlow – drum programming * Amaire Johnson – keyboards , additional keyboards * Julian-Quan Viet Le – additional keyboards * Brian Warfield – additional keyboards , recording engineering * Gregg Rominiecki – mixing *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is an American audio engineer based in California. He won three Grammy Awards: the first for mixing ''Growing Pains'' for Mary J. Blige in 2007, followed by '' El mal querer'' for Rosalía in 2018, and ''Hyperspace'' for Beck in ...

– mixing * Dave Nakaji – mixing assistance * Iván Jiménez – mixing assistance * Fisticuffs – recording engineering , engineering * Jim Caruana – recording engineering * Christian Plata – recording engineering , additional mixing * Maximilian Jaeger – recording engineering * Casey Cuayo – recording engineering assistance * Jhené Aiko – recording arrangement * Big Sean – recording arrangement * Swae Lee – recording arrangement * Mali Music – recording arrangement * 6lack – recording arrangement * Chris Brown – recording arrangement * Dave Kutch – mastering Management * Jhené Aiko – A&R, styling * TOCK – art direction, photography * Veronica Ettman – package design * Joe Spix – package design * Chris Le – additional design * Paul Lane – package production Miscellaneous * Olapido Omishore – author * Brian Warfield – author * Jhené Aiko – author * Maclean Robinson – author * Amaire Johnson – author * Big Sean – author * Swae Lee – author * Earnest Wilson – author * Frank Dukes – author * Julian-Quan Viet Le – author * KeY Wane – author * Mali Music – author * Chris Brown – author Notes * "Clear My Mind" and "Hello Ego" from the Target exclusive version are listed as tracks 23 and 24, respectively

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trip (Jhené Aiko album) 2017 albums Jhené Aiko albums Albums produced by No I.D. Albums produced by Benny Blanco Albums produced by Cashmere Cat Albums produced by Dot da Genius Albums produced by Frank Dukes Albums produced by Key Wane Def Jam Recordings albums 2010s concept albums