aimi Covers Ashanti’s “Foolish” to Launch Project “alt.”

aimi just released her first cover. “Foolish“, Ashanti’s 2002 classic, opens neo nostalgia, the debut EP from the new collective R&B project “alt.,” launched on June 24.

The original track marked her in middle school, then in high school. She remembers an instant melody, easy to hum, the kind of hook you sing without thinking before you even grasp what it means. Years later, she rewrites the lyrics from a different angle, that of an adult who’s lived through her own love stories, and who finds in Ashanti’s words a truth she didn’t catch at fifteen. The result stays true to the song’s spirit while leaning into a more mature, almost wistful reading.

The production choice changes everything. The piano riff that carried the original disappears, replaced by a sampled guitar. That shift pulls the cover away from straight 2000s R&B and closer to a summer mood, softer, built to loop through the hot months. Modesty Beats handles the production, a partnership that goes back a while: he’s worked with aimi across several releases, from “Sippin’ Sake” to “The Bdst.,” and knows her voice well enough to push it without losing what makes it hers.

For aimi, this choice marks a departure from her usual path. Since her 2020 debut, when her first EP Water Me climbed straight to the top of iTunes’ R&B/Soul chart, she’s built her catalog on original compositions, moving between Japanese and English depending on the track. Collaborations have piled up across her EPs, with JASMINE on Risk It All, EMI MARIA on How’s The Weather?, and American producer LEJKEYS on a 2024 single. “Foolish” is her first cover, a format she’d never tackled before, and it says something about the confidence she’s built over five years of work. The track has been streaming since June 24 via INSENSE MUSIC WORKS.