Westside Whimsy

“You guys, so much has happened in the last six years,” <b>Jhené Aiko</b> wrote on social media when she announced her first full-length since 2020’s <i>Chilombo</i>. An hour-long journey around the R&B singer-songwriter’s Southern California homeland—complete with guest appearances by locals like <b>Kendrick Lamar</b> and <b>Ab-Soul</b>—<i>Westside Whimsy</i> is full of luxuriant textures that update quiet storm for the bedroom-pop generation. At times, those plush synths serve as a landing spot for anxieties: “I can’t escape the heartbreak,” she muses over fuzz-covered pianos and strings on <b>“Break”</b>, while <b>“Don’t Be That Guy”</b> pairs a striding beat with Aiko gently, kindly affirming her boundaries. Aiko lets the sunshine in on cuts like <b>“Beach Boy”</b>, a gently swaying love song where her voice curls around her wonder at the “good vibrations” she’s feeling, and <b>“So Good”</b>, where she and Lamar steal admiring glances at each other over synths.