The illustrious Jill Scott has returned just in time for Valentine’s Day with a new and highly anticipated album, “To Whom This May Concern,” and she’s revealing exactly who it concerns.
In a recent conversation with Billboard’s Gail Mitchell, the 53-year-old three-time Grammy-winning R&B star shared why it took nearly a decade to release a new project and what she hopes listeners ultimately take away from it.
Early on in the conversation, Scott explained she wasn’t facing a creative block following her last project, 2015’s “Woman.” Instead, she was doing the very thing creatives must do in order to create: live life.
“I just took a creative break,” she explained, adding that the creativity itself is “always there.”
“It’s the energy that follows me around the house,” she continued. “In the shower, when I’m cleaning, making a bed. But I needed to take a break from that so that I could live life.”
She added, “I am, you know, a human being. So of course, there’s all kinds of stuff like perimenopause. That’s interesting.”
The mother of one, who welcomed her son Jett Hamilton Roberts in 2009 with her ex-fiancé, musician John “Lil John” Roberts, noted another major life shift.
“I have a teenager now; that’s different than ever before.”
Scott went on to explain that without the balance between living and creating, the art itself would not be possible.
“I really don’t think you can create without having the balance between the two,” she said. “It’s important to one, connect with yourself, remember who you are. Like I tell my folk, ‘Jill Scott doesn’t live in my house.’ Nobody calls me that in my house. There’s a separation so that I can fill her up. And that’s me. I have to fill me up so I can fill Jill Scott.”
Released Friday, Feb. 13, “To Whom This May Concern” spans 19 tracks and showcases Scott’s range. The album features appearances from Ab-Soul, J.I.D., Tierra Whack and Too $hort, with production from Adam Blackstone, Om’Mas Keith, DJ Premier, Camper, Andre Harris, Seige Monstracity, Trombone Shorty, Eric Wortham, DW Wright and VT Tolan. Sonically, it moves from playful, 1920s speakeasy jazz flourishes on tracks like “Pay U on Tuesday” to modern soulful crooning on “Beautiful People.” It’s varied in tone but cohesive in spirit.
Scott said the title came to her like a sigh of relief, signaling that the album will find its audience. It’s for who it’s for, and she hopes listeners gain something akin to sustenance from the songs.
“If it was one thing, I would love for people to sincerely have personal revolutions,” she said. “Revolutions take heart. They take intention, they take warriors around you. They take integrity, damn it, damn it. But they do. And I want people that are willing to fight for their personal revolution. I think it’s really important.”
With the album marking her sixth and arriving more than 25 years after her debut, Mitchell asked what she would tell “Jilly from the Philly” before she got her start.
“Trust the process,” Scott said without hesitation. “Trust you don’t know anything. You know nothing. Just trust that you’ll be shown and then go.”
“To Whom This May Concern” is now available across streaming platforms, and Scott is slated to perform on Valentine’s Day at New York’s Blue Note.
