Our next guest is an incredibly talented musician
who combined her love of meditation
into her Grammy nominated album, Chilombo.
Please welcome back Jhené Aiko.
Hi, Jhené.
Hi, how are you?
I'm good, how are you?
Good, I'm well.
You look good, it's good to see you again.
So you performed on the show I think three times, right?
But this is the first time we're chatting,
so I'm so happy to be talking to you.
Congratulations on your three Grammy nominations.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Are you going to be going to the Grammys?
I am, I am.
You are, how is that going to work?
I don't know, I know that we have to wear masks
and it's going to be socially distanced.
Right, well hopefully not too spread apart,
because as a musician, as an entertainer,
when you're performing, you need that energy in the room.
Yeah, for sure.
I don't know if I'm performing and I
don't know if they're doing performances,
but I'm pretty excited to go and see how
they have altered it for 2021.
Yeah, we all are.
And the one thing I really miss here is live music.
I miss having people here performing, because we
have our little mini concerts here that we get
to be so up close and personal.
So, let's talk about your album Chilombo.
Your music incorporates meditation and sound bowls,
tell everybody what that is.
I know what it is, but it's very cool.
Yes, so with Chilombo, on every track
there are crystal alchemy sound bowls.
I've been into sound healing and studying the healing properties
of sound.
And the bowls that I use are made mostly of quartz,
and they also are infused with other stones like ruby,
some of them are infused with platinum,
rose quartz, red rock, anything you can think of,
any type of stone.
And all of these properties lend itself
to how the bowl vibrates, and the frequency that it
gives off.
And all of those vibrations correspond
with different parts of your body,
and bring those different parts of your body in harmony.
And yeah, it's just been something that I'm really into.
It really adds to the music, the intention of healing
is actually in each track on the album.
So I'm excited that I get to share that with my fans now.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
And might I say, for people who give their young children
drum sets, if you give them bowls that would be so much
more soothing around the house.
For them to be playing instead of drums, to give the kids
bowls.
I mean, I don't know.
I am not a parent, but I would be a good one.
My kids would get bowls.
Yes.
So your boyfriend is Big Sean, he's nominated for a Grammy
as well.
Did you all find out together?
We did.
We found out, actually we were on a little road trip vacation.
And we both woke up to the news sort of in real time,
like they were announcing and I think I had already
had a nomination announced and then he had
one announced like right after.
And we were just waking up like, what, this is pretty crazy.
So yeah, that was a cool moment.
Very cool.
And so couples are either getting along and becoming
closer during quarantine or splitting up and learning
how different you are, but what's
it been like for both of you?
We've definitely gotten closer.
We've been able to spend a lot more time together,
learning a lot more about each other.
And he's gotten pretty close with my cats.
He's always been close with them,
but since we've had this time to like not really
have to travel a lot, he's a certified cat man now.
Oh yeah, it takes a big strong man
that's confident to admit that he likes a cat.
Because I don't know, for some reason men
are scared to say they like cats,
they're supposed to just like dogs.
But look at that, that's a beautiful one.
Look at that, cats are the coolest.
They're literally the coolest.
Sorry to all the dog people, I love dogs too.
But I mean look at that.
No, I actually heard a phrase a long time ago.
I've met many zen masters and they've all
been cats, because they are, they're
just so still and soothing.
So your birthday is next week, happy early birthday.
What are you going to do?
I have a special thing that I'm working on.
It's the 10th anniversary of my mix-tape, Sailing Souls.
So I'm working on getting that together to put out for my fans
on all streaming platforms.
Wow.
That's great, that's fantastic.
Well it's great talking to you again.
Good luck next week at the Grammys.
And please come see us as soon as we're
able to have music again, we'd love to have you here.
Yes please, I would love to come.
All right, Jhené's Grammy nominated album, Chilombo,
is available everywhere music is sold.
We'll be right back.