Jhené Aiko, who has been saturating a, shall we say, different kind of audience after briefly touring as Lana Del Rey’s opening act on the LA to the Moon Tour, continues to expand her appeal by reminding us not to forget about her staggeringly brilliant 2017 album, Trip, with not one but two videos for her latest single, “Never Call Me” featuring Kurupt.
And as she comes to fully realize just how false the nature of the relationship was, as well as that which it was based upon (drogas), Aiko sees fit to take up her rightful incarnation as the Shinto goddess (she has Japanese descent, it’s fine) of creation and death, Izanami-no-Mikoto. Her purpose in so doing is to have a little sendoff a.k.a. funeral for her ex’s ego–the source truly responsible for making him realize the error of his ways too late in the dynamic. To add to the ferocity of the sort of revenge fantasy that the common woman can only dream about, Aiko confirms with bluntness, “The funeral is for a man I knew personally. A man who lost his way. This funeral is the funeral for his ego. In this visual, I portray the goddess of creation and death, coming to collect his poor spirit and set it free.” And in so doing, Aiko seems to set herself free as well, for, by the end of the video, back in plainclothes, she sits smilingly in a restaurant with her notebook filled with the lyrics to “Never Call Me,” right when the contact “Fucc Boy” comes up on her phone as it rings in earnest to be answered. The call comes when she no longer needs or wants it, leading us into the second concept for the song, directed by Topshelf Jr.
Taking it back to her roots in South L.A. (with cameos by Nipsey Hu$$le, Lauren London, Dom Kennedy, Hit-Boy and Casey Veggies), Aiko describes this incarnation as the “hood version” of her revenge, in which she summons her Overhill boys to prove her point that, “Overhills might get you killed”–so in short, as Aiko puts it, “I come from a real-ass neighborhood, and I have a bunch of shooters on my side in case [fuccboys] think about acting up.” It ought to be duly noted to any man considering giving her the runaround in the next relationship. Shots of Slauson, the Culver City sign and Target (which helped her promote her first album, Souled Out), among others, combine to create the stage of where her loyalties lie, in turn, given back to her via the promise of protection from delusional assholes such as her ex.
While Version Two serves as more of an ode to those who have gotten her through trying times, Version One is to be the more universally loved in its implications. On her way to his funeral in the car, Aiko sings, “Okay, now you wanna say all that I done to ya/You knew all along that I wasn’t the one for you/So let’s stop pretending like we were in love/We never shared anything but the drugs/We were both numb, never had anything real between us.” But sometimes it takes the realness of being heartbroken to comprehend the satisfaction of knowing, “It’s out of my hands for sure.” Which is to say, “destiny” likes to play everyone for a fool now and again, and you can trust that you aren’t the only one who has suffered from the cruel jokes it’s delivered via the people it has brought into your life.
Of course, if you can’t get enough attendees to participate in a cathartic fake funeral with you, there is always the tried and true method of torching everything sentimental related to your time served in a fruitless relationship. But you can decide for yourself which mode of cleansing works best, just as you can decide below which video you prefer.
