Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo
Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo, commonly known as Jhené Aiko is a popular American singer/song-writer. Born and raised in LA, and one of 5 siblings, her parents are Christina Yamamoto (Japanese, Spanish, Dominican descent) and Dr. Karamo Chilombo(Mixed-Black and Native American ancestry)(Carmichael). Aiko’s Japanese maternal grandfather, born in Hawai'i ended up moving and growing up in Compton where he met Aiko's maternal grandmother(Gomez). Growing up Jhené Aiko faced multitudes of people confused by her mixed background however she states that she didn't really feel like she didn't belong anywhere because she belonged with her family.(Jhené Aiko—Documentary)
She signed her first record deal when she was 12 (Jhené Aiko—Documentary) and faced pressure to conform to one of her ethnicities in order to get casted(Jr). She also started to use substances around this time, and got healthier when she had her first daughter, Namiko, with her ex-boyfriend at age 20. When her brother Miyagi passed in 2012 she returned to substances again to help cope with the loss (Tracy), however she says that her daughter, spirituality, and mediation helped to bring her back to reality(Carmichael).
Jhené Aiko has had multiple songs chart on Billboard throughout her career and has recently reached No.1 on Billboard's R&B Songwriters chart(Zellner). Many of her albums chart and hold their places on Billboard for multiple weeks as well(Gomez). The visibility of popular and well liked performers like Jhené Aiko challenge mainstream notions of biracial identity.
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA
Nationality: American
Background of Parents: Mother is Japanese, Spanish, and Dominican descent. Father is African American, Yaqui, Choctaw, Cherokee, Navajo, and German Jewish descent. (Carmichael)
Languages Spoken: English (native)
Profession: Singer/Songwriter
Sentiment Data from Twitter
Tweets mentioning "Jhené Aiko" June 18th, 2020
Data Collection Parameters
Collected a random sample of 100 tweets on June 18th, 2020 which contained mentioned "Jhené Aiko" in their body. Tweets were counted only once and put into the category they most closely fit. Tweets in english and only one tweet per account were counted (10 tweets uncounted/unable to be categorized). Due to the subjective nature of interpreting the comments there may be some discrepancies in the data. To see examples of comments that fit into a category, view the google sheet with extracted comments The example comments are listed under the graph and highlighted accordingly with the category on the left. The uncounted comments are highlighted pink.
Data Analysis
The vast majority of the tweets were positive and related to Jhené Aiko's music and career, with only 1 tweet expressing clear disdain for her music. The focus on her music and complete lack of mention of her racial background, language ability, etc speaks volumes, and shows in this sample set those parts of her identity are not contested. Additionally, there were a large number of tweets that were people or radio stations merely stating that they were playing her songs, which confirms her position as a popular and influential artist.