Jhené Aiko Pens Original Song ‘Vote’ For ABC’s ‘Black-ish’ Election Special

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko has written a new original song titled “Vote” for ABC’s hit show Black-ish, ahead of the sitcom’s election special airing on Sunday, October 4. The track will be available on streaming services the night before the hour-long special airs.

“Now more than ever it is vital that we all VOTE,” Aiko said. “It was an honor working with ‘Black-ish’ to bring you this song.”

Directed by Matthew A. Cherry, the election special will follow the character Junior (Marcus Scribner) and use his first time voting experience to explore the history of voting rights in America, along with his father Dre (Anthony Anderson) and his sister Diane (Marsai Martin).

🎼 Hear a new original song from @JheneAiko during the special one-hour #blackish event this Sunday after the NBA Finals! pic.twitter.com/65cY0TNQoA

— black-ish (@blackishabc) October 2, 2020

Aiko was recruited by series creator Kenya Barris, according to Black-ish showrunner Courtney Lilly. “He knows all of these musicians and people that want to work with him. We knew we wanted to do a music video – that was going to be an important part of the set pieces we were going to do. So we were starting to come up with stuff and he was like, ‘Hang on, I’m going to see if I can get Jhené to work on something.’ And we were like, ‘Ok!’” Lilly told Variety.

On the track, Aiko sings “I just want to get to the ballot / I just want to feel like I’m valid / It’s the best way to make my voice heard / and it should be automatic / that’s my American right / I just wanna focus on my vote.”

Most recently, Aiko performed an eight-song medley as a part of NPR’s Tiny Desk From Home series. Her best-selling album Chilombo, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and at No.2 on the Billboard 200, is available now.

Listen to the best of Jhené Aiko on Apple Music and Spotify.