People have a lot of preconceived notions about Los Angeles. To out-of-towners and newcomers, it’s just the City of Stars. Rich people buy expensive Erewhon smoothies, and aspiring creatives desperately try to network at parties filled with fake laughter. LA has an unshakable reputation for artificiality.
But natives know a totally different version of the city. Torrance isn’t Compton. Koreatown isn’t Silverlake. Gardena is nothing like Santa Monica. Those who live in L.A. have seen all of its many faces and know that it’s all about what you put into it. You can carve out a truly beautiful community if you pursue it.
Nobody knows this reality quite like Jhené Aiko, born and bred in Los Angeles, who has seen it evolve over the years too. What she learned early on is that no one knows how deeply spiritual California is as a whole, let alone L.A. Her clearest way to communicate that, in addition to her upcoming album Westside Whimsy, was to partner her brand ALLEL with Awe Inspired on a line of jewelry that depicts some of its history.
“My intention with this collaboration was to dig deep into the history of the actual land of Los Angeles,” Jhené Aiko told us. “Which is why we have a piece with Califia, who’s the goddess California was named after. We have a piece with the saber-tooth cat tooth that is the California state fossil… I wanted to share it with people who don’t know the depth of and the rich history of this beautiful place.”
Jhené Aiko Digs Into The Roots of California Through Her Latest Jewelry Line
Because of the many transplants that try to find themselves in California, Aiko has seen their resentment firsthand. It’s not L.A.’s job to fulfill them— so what are they looking for? “They have what certain things are supposed to look like in their mind. What is peace supposed to look like? What is happiness supposed to look like; what is success supposed to look like?” Jhené Aiko questioned.
“So a lot of people come to L.A., especially, and they have these things in their mind, and then they either get disappointed or turned off or turned out, you know? They get kind of discombobulated because they have a certain baseline that was set somewhere else in the world.”
The ironic part, though, is that they never leave something they claim to hate. “Even people that come here and move here, they’ll still talk mess, but then they still won’t leave. And you’re like, well, clearly you love something about where you’re at because you could just leave,” Aiko laughed.
Jhené Aiko Candidly Talks About Grief as ‘The most inspiring emotion in my life’
Aiko’s relationship with L.A. hasn’t been all sunshine, though. Back in January 2025, she lost her dream home to the horrific wildfires that ravaged the city. Admittedly, the experience absolutely ravaged her. But years of grieving after losing her great-grandmother, her childhood cat, and her home in the second grade radically informed how she processes loss.
“I just started to realize this is a lot, and this is life. This is a part of life. I don’t want to say I’m motivated by grief, but I know that it’s inevitable, and I know that anything I love I may lose,” Jhené Aiko said. “So it’s kind of one of those things that has helped me appreciate every moment, even the losing part of it. Finding the gift and finding the lesson in it, and sharing my grief with others because it is a part of life.”
Consequently, when her dream home burned down, the biggest feeling was shock. But once it all set in, Jhené Aiko realized it was just material. Everything that mattered most to her in life was still with her. The memories can’t be stolen.
“When I went to see [her old house], at first the initial feeling was grief,” she recalled. “But I immediately started to see the art in it. Like it was beautiful still, you know what I mean? It was burned down, but there was like a tree, there was a rose that was still growing. Even though it was sad, there was still beauty and hope. And I think that that’s the beautiful thing about grief.”
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