Jill Scott ushers in a personal revolution with To Whom This May Concern

Jill Scott has returned with her sixth studio album, To Whom This May Concern, released on February 13 (ET). The project marks her first full-length in over a decade and channels a hard-won sense of clarity, community and craft — a body of work she hopes will spark a personal revolution in those who press play.

A homecoming more than a comeback

Now based in Tennessee, the Philadelphia-bred singer, poet and actor has long treated her music as a lived practice. She emerged in the late 1990s from the city’s spoken-word circles and helped pen a breakout hit for The Roots in 1999 before introducing herself on 2000’s Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1. More than two decades later, this new chapter reflects the arc of a life deliberately lived between releases — tending to family, healing, and choosing presence over pace.

To Whom This May Concern is Scott’s third album as an independent artist, arriving with the steadiness of someone who has taken the time to listen to her own instincts. The result reads like a personal dispatch addressed to anyone who needs it — and only when they’re ready to receive it.

Songs that simmer, then bloom

Scott’s process is unhurried by design. Verses can take months or even years to land in place; she describes writing like a scavenger hunt, gathering fragments until a fully formed song reveals itself. That patience is audible across the new record, where melodies feel lived-in and lyrics carry the weight of considered thought. The intended effect is visceral: when the final note fades, the silence should feel loud enough to nudge the listener to move — whether that means taking action or starting the record over.

It’s a philosophy of craft that mirrors the album’s themes. Strength and vulnerability are not opposites here; they are companions. Scott leans into both, posing quiet questions about desire, purpose and the choices that shape a life.

Community at the center: Beautiful People

The lead single, Beautiful People, sets the album’s tone with gratitude for the “village” that sustained her between projects. The track, warm and exuberant, celebrates the relationships that anchor growth. Its cover art — a candid shot of Scott’s mother, Joyce, mid-laugh — underlines the point: this is music rooted in family, fellowship and everyday joy.

That embrace extends to the listener. Rather than broadcasting pronouncements, Scott issues an invitation: be affirmed, be seen, and consider what comes next.

An expansive circle of collaborators

Scott widened her creative family for To Whom This May Concern, drawing in artists across hip-hop, jazz, soul and R&B. Contributors include Tierra Whack, Too $hort, Ab-Soul and Trombone Shorty, with production sparks from DJ Premier and Vincent “VT” Tolan, among others. Many of the connections were organic — passing encounters that became studio sessions — and, unusually, Scott often traveled to collaborators’ home cities and workspaces rather than flying them to her. Immersing herself in each locale’s rhythm helped shape the album’s palette and feel, lending a lived texture to the songs.

The approach keeps the record exploratory but cohesive, a collage of voices orbiting a singular point of view.

Kindred artistry: a dialogue with Bisa Butler

Scott’s meticulous approach found a resonant mirror in a recent studio conversation with textile artist Bisa Butler, whose quilted portraits reimagine archival and family photographs with radiant color. Butler layers fabrics sourced from Ghana, South Africa and the Netherlands, building faces and forms like topographical maps. Her 2020 work The Warmth of Other Sons — titled in homage to a landmark chronicle of the Great Migration — is one example of how her materials carry history that viewers can feel.

Both artists spoke about time as a medium. Butler described seeking the person within a nameless photograph, capturing humor, sorrow and brilliance in stitch and hue. Scott, in turn, talked about holding space for strength and fragility in song. Each trusts patient labor to surface truth, and both share an impulse to teach — to pass on technique and perspective so stories endure beyond the work itself.

Why it matters now

To Whom This May Concern arrives with the assurance of craft and the urgency of message. In a moment crowded with quick hits, Scott is betting on the slow burn — on songs built to linger, on collaboration that feels lived rather than arranged, and on art that asks the listener to reflect. That stance aligns her with makers like Butler, whose pieces similarly insist on seeing people in full.

For longtime fans, the album renews a bond forged at the turn of the millennium. For new listeners, it’s a chance to meet an artist mid-journey, unhurried and unflinching. Either way, Scott’s dispatch lands right on time.