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Mila J Vibez

Sixteen tracks from a singer, dancer and songwriter who has been in the industry since childhood and has never had the moment her talent warranted.

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Mila J

Jamila Chilombo has one of the longer and stranger careers in contemporary R&B. She was in a girl group called Gyrl as a teenager in the nineties, alongside another of her sisters, and she has been releasing music under various names ever since. Her younger sister is Jhené Aiko, whose career took a very different trajectory.

The comparison is unavoidable and slightly unfair, because they are doing different things. Where Aiko's records are floating and interior, Mila J's are tougher, funnier and considerably more rhythmic — she is a dancer by training, and it shows in how she phrases against a beat.

She has also released an enormous amount of independent material, which is why her catalogue rewards digging rather than skimming.

What to listen for

"Kickin' Back" is the one most people know and the best introduction — a slow, confident record with a hook that does almost nothing and works completely.

"Smile" and "Drifting" are the two where the writing is strongest, and "4 Pictures Away" is the most emotionally direct.

"The Sweetest Taboo" is the Sade cover, which is a considerable risk, and she handles it by not attempting to match the original's restraint.

"W.W.E. (Women With Egos)" is the funniest and most pointed thing here, and "Coldest Shoulder in the West" runs it close.

"DR. PHIL" and "THE SAINTS GO MARCHING ON" come from the later independent releases, and both show a more experimental streak than the early singles suggest.

"Dirt" and "Touch Me" are the deep cuts, and "MY ONLY HOPES" is the most reflective.

Go deeper

The Made in LA and M.I.L.A. EPs are the most consistent releases, and the monthly-release projects she has run independently are where the volume of material lives.

Jhené Aiko's Souled Out is the family companion piece and a genuinely excellent album. For the wider lineage of R&B singers who came out of nineties girl groups and rebuilt solo careers independently, Kelly Rowland and Amerie are the useful comparisons.

Listening note: she phrases like a dancer, which is the clearest thing separating her from the obvious family comparison. The lines land on the beat rather than floating above it, the consonants are crisp, and the rhythm of the delivery does as much work as the melody. It is a different skill entirely and it deserves to be heard on its own terms.

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