The well-known R&B singer Jhene Aiko from Los Angeles California was born on March 16th, 1988. She began starting her music career in early 2002 when she was a background vocalist for an artist called B2K. She was signed to Epic Records but decided to put her education first and connect with music at a later date. In 2011 she returned with her Mixtape titled Sailing Soul(S) singing through heartbreak and self-love this EP was an amazing start to her music discography.

Lyrics Provided by © Genius

[Verse 1]
Tell me whatcha say now
Tell me whatcha say?
Come again?
If you cannot stay down
Then you do not have to pretend
Like there is no way out
I shoulda never let you in
‘Cause you got me face down

It seems like she’s having a conversation with her lover and also herself. This being that she is asking them “What are you saying?, I don’t understand?”. The lyric states that they don’t have to pretend that they can’t be in love and are ready to settle down because that’s what she wants. “Come again” meaning that she is in disbelief of what is happening because he really played in her face. “I shoulda never let you in” because she knew already that he was a “user” and that all he wanted to do was use her and play with her emotions.

[Pre-Chorus 1]
And don’t take this personal
But you’re the worst
You know what you’ve done to me
And although it hurts, I know
I just can’t keep runnin’ away
(I can’t keep runnin’ away
I can’t keep runnin’ away
I can’t keep runnin’ away)

She is talking about him and she could also be talking to him face to face. “Don’t take this personal but you’re the worst”. Meaning that she wants him to know how bad he was in a sense because of what he did to her and how he treated her. Then she continues the conversation by talking to herself and self-reflecting by understanding that although he hurt her she can’t keep running away from him.

[Chorus]
I don’t need you, I don’t need you
I don’t need you, I don’t need you
But I want you
I don’t mean to, I don’t mean to
I don’t mean to, I don’t mean to
But I love you

The chorus speaks for itself in her conversation because she allowed herself to go through all this hurt and pain because she was in love with him. She convinces herself that she doesn’t need him but with everything he’s done to her and how he made her feel she doesn’t want him. Then again she realizes all the good times which weren’t many but she had so much patience because of how much she loved him he was just doing too much for her to keep extending her patience by allowing him to keep hurting her.

[Verse ]
Everybody’s like “He’s no item”
“Please don’t like him”
“He don’t wife ’em”
“He one nights ’em”
I never listen, no
I should have figured though
All that shit you was spittin’, so unoriginal
But it was you, so I was with it
Then tell you the truth, wish we never did it
‘Cause I usually do stick to the business
But you came out the blue and then you just flipped it
(God damn) God damn, baby, my mind’s blown
Be forgettin’ you live in a different time zone
I think I know what this is
It’s just the time’s wrong
And, yeah, I know what you did
But, baby, I’m grown
And my love is patient
And kind of shit
If this is real we can build
Through different types of shit
If you was really the realest
Wouldn’t be fightin’ it
I think your pride is just

[Bridge]
In the way
Funny how everything changed
Once you got all that you wanted
Nothing was ever the same

In the verse, she is trauma-dumping by telling us all of the red flags that everyone warned her about. People tell her not to date him because he doesn’t “wife them” meaning he never marries the girl he just has intercourse and then leaves. Following up they say that he one nights them and to please not like him.

Then she continued to talk to herself by understanding her situation re-analyzing what she went through and reflecting on how his jokes were unoriginal and all of those tricks she had seen before but because he was “different” he totally caught her by surprise because she usually isn’t the type to “give it up” as she says which means have sex because she is professional. Then understanding what she had done, she regrets everything and is coming into terms with it.

She follows this up by defining what real love is and how “If it was real” we could build through is and we wouldn’t be fighting. She then says that his pride is in the way because if he really loved her he would stay but she knows she doesn’t need him she wants him.

In conclusion, this song has a really deep meaning with her situation as this time and how she was fighting for love when all she needed was herself, but because he was who he was she fell for him harder.

My rating: 10/10

Artist: Jhene Aíko / Song: The Worst