The Singles Jukebox

Mallory O’Donnell: Fans of R&B miserablism couldn’t ask for a better time to be alive than right now. Aiko distinguishes herself from the res of the recovery jargon pack because even at her most hopeless (“Drinking & Driving,” “3:16 AM”) her voice is so supple-smooth and full of yearning that mercy seems as likely a possibility as jail. “The Worst” is centered around a desultory piano meander, the obligatory wet snare and a relationship backstory that’s atypically longer than a single evening, but it’s still essentially the same saga of bad decisions told bravely and bitterly. Not the best, but well above average.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: This, again, is Fisticuffs doing 40 circa “Un-Thinkable” (also, possibly: Pharrell circa every intro ever): shame-spiral piano adrift in a sea of sulk. Aiko, too, sings again with her ersatz emoting — stresses that don’t quite flow, like each word is spliced in from a separate vocal take — but here it works, the more jarring bits matched to Aiko’s internal conflict. Note “you know that I do-not-depend-on nothing, or no one,” sung like she’s sputtering right through the syllables, or “change my mind like — that,” like the first blink before a tear, or the hook, four insistent repetitions of “I don’t need you” that resolve as pleas or sighs or flutters down to resignation, each sung accordingly. An ideal soundtrack to staring out the window, staring at your reflection staring out the window.
[8]

Crystal Leww: Aiko has maybe benefited from the trend to sparse, but she’s also taken the most shit for it, with every misinformed rap bro blaming her for making R&B boring. The most disappointing is how dismissing Aiko as a concept means dismissing songs like “The Worst,” which is perfect for Aiko’s whispered, stumbled, and invested confessions. Her vocal performance is supposed to sound detached because it’s all part of the facade, but if you really listen, she is entirely too interested in trying to sound detached, in trying to not take things personally, in trying to care less, in trying to convince herself via convincing the other person that she doesn’t care. My god, it fails spectacularly. The way that she sings “You weren’t shit / you weren’t special ’till I made you so” is so put on anger that all you can hear is desperation and sadness. The bridge is hollow then wistful. She sincerely hopes that he’ll take her up on the fact that her love is “patient and kind and shit,” final qualifier meant to convey a sense of not-really-giving-a-fuck but instead successfully conveying the misery of dealing with the impact of his actions. “The Worst” is peak-Aiko: the cool girl facade for someone who cares entirety too much.
[8]

Brad Shoup: She’s surfacing to a melody, I think, but maybe she’s happy to drift on the 40 parallel. I feel like there’s a couple dozen phrases waiting to be rinsed out by Soundcloud twerps.
[5]

Edward Okulicz: The song needs some sharper corners than a few uses of “shit” to emerge from the sad fog, rather than sounding like Sia wrote a Drake song.
[5]

Patrick St. Michel: Jhené Aiko is at her best when she gets out of bed and, like Jojo, offers up an alternate perspective to the hedonistic-but-sorta-self-aware lyrics penned by Drake or The Weeknd. “The Worst,” in particular, seems like a more interesting version of the former’s “From Time,” down to a much pricklier beat (pitch-shifted vocals! channel-hopping singing!) that doesn’t just lean on piano notes for all its drama. Besides just sounding twisty, it’s also a far more lyrically interesting song, more conflicted than Drake’s journal entry which featured Aiko playing the role of fantasy-woman. “The Worst” is Aiko giving the women usually serving as NPC’s on other artist’s songs a chance to express themselves and proving they tend to be more interesting.
[8]