After a hiatus from the music industry,
Jhené Aiko started to come into her own in 2011 with
Sailing Soul(s), her mixtape debut. The self-released set -- made primarily with production duo
Fisticuffs -- indicated her potential as a contemporary R&B artist specializing in dreamy, pared-down ballads with diaristic and conversational songwriting. In 2021, a revised tenth anniversary edition of the tape reached streaming services through
Def Jam. The updated edition omitted "July" and "Growing Apart Too" (which respectively featured
Drake and
Kendrick Lamar), and removed
Kanye West's appearance from "Sailing Not Selling." A handful of appended tracks made their commercial debut as bonus material. ~ Andy Kellman