Just friends! Jhene Aiko’s recent Instagram photo with Big Sean had some wondering if the two exes had rekindled their romantic relationship, but the two music stars have not gotten back together.
A source close to Aiko tells Us Weekly that the 31-year-old wanted to clear the air with Sean, 31, after singing about their relationship — which ended after two years in December 2018 — on her new song “Triggered (Freestyle).”
“Jhene was very upset with how her freestyle was only seen as a diss track to Big Sean. She knows she went harder on him than he deserved and was upset that her fans were attacking him.”
In the song, which the three-time Grammy nominee released on Tuesday, May 7, she sings, “Knew from the beginning / You’d ruin everything, you do it every time.”
On Saturday, May 11, Aiko posted an Instagram photo of herself and the “So Good” rapper smiling at each other as they sat atop a beach lifeguard stand. “Today was a good day,” Aiko wrote in the caption.
“Jhene wanted to meet up with him to explain her frustrations that were shared in her freestyle and post this picture so people would stop hating on Sean so much,” the source tells Us. “They are not back together.”
Aiko also explained the song on Twitter the day after its release. “‘Triggered’ was a moment. a moment that for me has passed,” she tweeted. “It is new to you because ur just now hearing it, but for me… it’s something i moved on from the moment i expressed it.”
She continued: “Triggered is NOT a diss song. it is a moment of talking s–t out of frustration and passion. it’s was a moment of exaggerated expression when I was feeling lost and weak. no one is to be blamed or bashed for how I was feeling in that moment. I am in control of my feelings.”
“This is how I paint,” Aiko concluded. “This is me yelling and throwing paint at a canvas… then going out into the world feeling less tension, more open… more loving. going to bed feeling less stressed, more optimistic.”
With reporting by Travis Cronin