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It took ten years to make this album
JILL SCOTT does not rush records. She only goes into the studio when she feels she has got something she needs to say.
The American singer’s sixth album, To Whom This May Concern, arrives a decade after her last effort for exactly that reason.
“It took me 27 years to make Who Is Jill Scott?,” she says of her landmark debut. “And all the experiences in those years I put into that album.
“These projects don’t just happen overnight, it doesn’t work that way. So, it took me ten years to make this album.
“Why did it take so damn long? Because it takes time to make a great meal. It takes time to decorate your home. You don’t rush it. I took my time because I care.”
Writing only when there is something urgent to say, and letting the music lead the message, is the way the Grammy-winning artist and actor creates.
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She says: “I wait for it to come and the things that came out of me for this album shocked the hell out of me, too.
“On some songs, I’m an anthropologist, studying people. I’m on social media and hearing how a lot of people are not satisfied and that’s a damn shame.
“It’s a little harder for me to just sit on a park bench and watch people.”
I meet Scott at her publicist’s office in central London.
I am very excited about the musicianship on this album. The horn players and the bass, which is all over this album, is amazing.
Jill Scott
Dressed in orange, she is bright, friendly and effortlessly glamorous, although she says the jet lag has been hard to deal with.
She’s been over here for a week of promotion, including an album launch where she introduced tracks from To Whom This May Concern and took questions from fans.
“That was a pretty exciting night,” she says. “And the response was great, which was good as I was scared because it’s the first time playing this new music for a bunch of people in a room.
“I am very excited about the musicianship on this album. The horn players and the bass, which is all over this album, is amazing. It’s not a plug-in, it’s a player.”
At 19 tracks long, this is an impressive album. Collaborators include Trombone Shorty, Maha Adachi Earth, DJ Premier and rappers Tierra Whack, JID and Ab-Soul.
Recent single Pressha and Don’t Play touch on relationships.
Jill says: “Pressha is about a toxic past relationship while Don’t Play is a template for how to have a date where you actually want to get to know someone.
“It’s not just about what box they tick or what salary they earn. Then BPOTY — Biggest Pimp Of The Year — I wrote after looking at society and thinking, ‘My God, these folks are pimping us’.
“Like the pharmaceutical companies. I had been taking some medication and I didn’t really need it, I was being pimped and so it began with that story.”
‘Music is medicinal’
A diverse record blending soul, rap and jazz, it features beautiful ballads such as Me 4 and Àse, showcasing the poetic storytelling Scott has long been celebrated for.
“When I heard how diverse the music was, it made sense as an album,” she explains.
“People are going to get what they’re going to get what they need from it at different times. I believe music is medicinal. Like when I first heard of Billie Holiday, I didn’t really hear her until I got my feelings hurt.
“Then I listened again and everything clicked and made sense — how poignant her words were — and that’s why this album is called To Whom This May Concern.”
Be Great is a superb track as both a declaration and mantra, designed for everyday moments of courage.
“I want people to play it before their auditions, job interviews or anything that matters to you,” says Scott. “Go ahead and be fantastic at it, whatever it is.
“I just got the music and the lyrics popped out. I see it as Golden’s cousin [her 2004 anthem]. Yeah, they’re definitely related.”
Offdaback, which Scott says is her favourite track on her new album, pays homage to her heroes who came before her, artists and pioneers who stood up for freedom and music.
“The ancestors have to be honoured,” she explains.
“Whether it was your grandmother who worked in somebody’s house in order to make sure your mother had food, or it was your dad who worked three jobs so you could go to college or so you could live your dream.
“As an artist every day I’m reminded of how many people have made a way for me to be here.
“My office wall has photos of all the people who have inspired me. Diana Ross, Missy Elliott, Led Zeppelin and Queen Latifah are on there.
“I admire so many. Nina Simone for being so frank and fearless; Tina Turner for being so brave and using her voice.
“The list goes on. Frankie Beverly was beloved to me and Prince was my number one, and Bette Midler showed me that you don’t have to be around, knocking on doors all the time. You can disappear for a while, too.
“I went to see Frankie Beverly and Maze and they’d not had a record out for 25 years but everyone at the show is up and singing at the top of their voices.
“Music is about that feeling, about camaraderie and unity. I feel really honoured that anyone would feel that about my music.
“However, I’m still working on the other stuff that comes with that.”
There was a recent social media post of Scott being stopped by a fan who recognised her on the street — and she tells me she still finds that side of fame difficult.
Staying human
She says: “I value my time in just taking a walk, I really do. It’s important to me and it helps me balance everything else. The guy was sweet and I loved his freckles but being stopped in the street is not easy for me.
“Yes, 26 years later, I’m still working on it. I get good advice about it. My mentors tell me the value of maintaining the private self and staying human.
“When people put you on a pedestal it’s a very dangerous game and it’s not the game I play.”
When Scott emerged in 2000 as the voice in neo-soul, blending R&B, jazz, soul and spoken word, she found the spotlight overwhelming.
“It was terrifying and exciting,” she says with a smile. “I had a good two or three weeks where I was like, ‘This is so fun’. And then it didn’t stop.
“People were driving by my house playing the album at full capacity at three o’clock in the morning.
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because that’s not where I live — I live in grace and gratefulness all the time.
“It just was never my priority. I see people who are far more famous than me, and God bless them, but balance really matters to me. I’m a writer first, I just happen to sing.
“I have to be human and recognise how flawed I am and how much I’m working through things and honouring myself in all the things.
`’So, my goal is to be grand and gracious and have patience with other people. And when I can’t, I go into the house. That’s how I live.”
I think as a society, we’re holding on to a lot of people that don’t benefit our lives.
Jill Scott
Pay U On Tuesday is a fun song which Scott says: “Comes from being exhausted of family members who I used to be friends with that just don’t value the same things.”
It’s a direct song which even comes with a disclaimer (in the form of a track called Disclaimer) before it.
She laughs and says: “Oh yes there’s a disclaimer. But cutting ties is sometimes needed.
“Maybe they’re not ready to be respectful now, but I think as a society, we’re holding on to a lot of people that don’t benefit our lives.
“What I’ve learned in these 53 years is that I love when the people around me bloom and I want to continue to bloom.
“This album has been brought to you by education for your home. For your family.
“I definitely don’t like being perimenopausal. That’s not fun. It’s made certain things a lot more challenging, like staying fit, and sometimes you don’t sleep and a dress doesn’t fit but I count on the joys.
“I’m a big advocate for a book called The Celestine Prophecy, which reminds me to constantly look for beauty.”
Growing up in North Philadelphia, “Jilly from Philly” says she owes her positivity and happy childhood to her mother and grandmother. “My mother showed me art and creativity and I’m grateful,” she tells me.
Although there was a lot of drugs and violence around her, she also saw “kind and beautiful-spirited people” — and that spirit is at the heart of the track Norf Side.
“It’s a celebration of the place,” she says.
For that song, she wanted another voice from North Philly and her son Jett suggested Tierra Whack, a brilliant MC and remarkable poetess. “We are both a reflection of that place,” she says.
Scott, who has a charitable foundation in North Philadelphia which has been sending kids to camp and to college for more than 20 years, says she could have made an album about what’s going on in the US politically but chose a theme of personal revolution over performative outrage and political frustration.
‘Joy, passion, rage’
“I think that’s another album,” she says. “Right now, I’m really focused on growth and healing — the human stuff.
“Then maybe there will be the kind of revolution that this kind of turmoil deserves.”
On the death of mum-of-three Renee Good, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis last month, she says: “This has been going on in the United States for longer than my whole life — it’s not new.
“It just happened to happen to a Caucasian woman so the world is shaken and they’re seeing it.”
Making a name for herself in acting as well as music and poetry, she has starred in 2007 comedy Why Did I Get Married? and TV series The No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
Scott says she is taking her time when it comes to choosing her next role, paying close attention to both the director and the writing.
Live performance, however, is non-negotiable. “I will be touring. That is a fact.”
For now, the focus is firmly on this record. “I just want people to come back and listen to it again and again,” she says.
“I’ve sprinkled levels of joy, frustration, passion and even rage. When that last chord plays, I want people to sit with it — and then start all over again. Each time, there’s something new.”
- To Whom This May Concern is out on February 13.
JILL SCOTT
To Whom This May Concern