‘I'll keep it simple, baby’. On “Sativa”, her standout duet with Mississippi hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, veteran alt-R&B songstress Jhené Aiko reiterates her M.O. with her gauzy, sensual-yet-partially-aloof vocals: ‘I'ma keep it simple with you, baby/ You know I don't ever play no games/ You know I don't ever complicate it’. The song - which initially only featured vocals from Swae Lee - follows “While We’re Young” as the second single from her sophomore studio album Trip (September 22, 2017). As promised, the song makes no explicit mention of the thorny conceptual spine of her album and accompanying short film: Aiko’s experimentation with various drugs as a coping mechanism for the intense grief caused by the loss of her brother Miyagi to cancer in 2012.
Instead, Aiko, Lee, and Jxmmi conjure up an intriguing sensual atmosphere by trading verses about doing drugs and hooking up while avoiding any messy emotional entanglements: ‘Why you make it so complicated?/ Off the drink, we concentratin’/ I know you won’t leave me hangin’. Aiko delivers a delicate sense of agency and conviction with her trademark vaporous vocals, leaving listeners who are not already acquainted with her backstory to wonder what catalyzed her beguiling uninhibited embrace of this kind of late night drunk/stoned romanticism: ‘Is it hot in here or is it just me? [...] Yeah, the drinks are on me/ I said now go and take a shot on me/ Only drug a bitch is on is the tree/ But I lasted ten rounds like a freak/ Like a G'.
Lee and Jxmmi match Aiko’s steady rhythm and delivers their rap verses with a newfound gentleness. Together, they glide effortlessly over the song’s light beats and breezy melody. They harmonize about getting ready, ‘meeting expectations’ and ‘making arrangements’, leaving the track to coast along on sheer anticipation alone. The climax and resolution lie just around the corner, but the psychedelic build-up is so disarming that there is really no rush in getting there.
