Hi, everyone. Whomthony Maytano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Jill Scott album, To Whom This May Concern.

Here we have a brand new record from singer, songwriter, actress, poet, Ms. Jill Scott. This is her sixth full-length LP, and believe it or not, her first in 10 years or so. This is probably a great time to remind people who is Jill Scott. Get it?

Anyway, over 20 years ago, Jill Scott made a splash and turned heads with a platinum selling debut album that would forever solidify her reputation as a cutting edge artist. At the time, like a D'Angelo or a Lauryn Hill or a Badu, Scott was a master of fusion, bringing together pieces of soul and hip hop and RnB and jazz and gospel into a seamless sound that's honestly coming back around in a lot of ways today, especially with albums like Beautifully Human pretty much reaching classic status at this point.

So yeah, I would say this is a pretty apt time for a Jill Scott comeback. However, she never really entirely left. In recent years, she has been making headway in the acting space here and there. And Scott is still very much good for the occasional stellar feature, too, be it with Kehlani, Conway the Machine, or Big K.R.I.T., to name a few.

And if you're online at all, which I imagine you are, you know that Jill Scott is a very frequent poster especially on Twitter, where she is constantly dropping unfiltered opinions on music, art, and pretty much anything else, which is funny because I feel like that and age, as well as her becoming more established over time, has really led to a bit of an "I don't give a fuck" energy, which very much bleeds through onto this new album, [which] like previous works, does feature themes like love, self-love, as well as a celebration of humanity itself.

But on To Whom This May Concern, Scott is more unapologetic about all of it than she ever has been, and is so on a series of tracks that work like these linear, endlessly funky screeds or open manifestations as she frames them at the very start of the album. Because, yeah, the performances on this record are very groovy, are very winding, feel almost off the cuff at certain points. But who needs structure when you've got enough wit and vocal chops and charisma to make pretty much every spare moment of your almost hour-long album here interesting regardless.

Because To Whom is a pretty dense record and nearly every track hits, whether you're talking about the boomy, brash energy on the self affirmation anthem "Be Great", which brings powerful vocals, big horns, definitely one of the most ambitious tracks on the entire record. We also, of course, have more chill numbers like "Offdaback" in the mix, which are much headier and maybe more purposeful in their messaging as Scott pays tribute to all of the artists and musicians who came before her having to operate and travel very carefully, play in backroom spaces in order to make Black music the institution that it is today. Then in the final verse of the song, she celebrates and points the audience toward the preciousness of the creative freedom and expression that she enjoys now.

Following this, we have tracks like "Norf Side", which feature none than Tierra Whack, which not only features two of the most fun and cool rap verses that I've heard this year so far – and this is not even a primarily hip hop oriented project – but it's also really great to hear these two teaming up as artists who share this Philly connection.

Then "Pay U on Tuesday" is a track that I do have to acknowledge because it is a highlight, but then also given the lyrics and commentary of the track, I feel like I would be taking my own off to get into the politics and the overall messaging of this one. Take heed of the disclaimer. I'll say that. Great disclaimer.

Another highlight, though, on the record is "Pressha", a stellar song with not just beautiful, breathy, captivating vocal harmonies on the chorus and all this woosy jazz funk guitar and keys. But of course, also, Scott lays down some killer vocals and lyrics that deal very directly in racialized beauty standards and the inequity and the pressure that one feels in the face of that.

Then, "Biggest Pimp Of The Year" also features some pretty essential commentary with some super bold beats and vocals to boot. It's a track that's all about churches and preachers who take away from the communities that they thrive off of without giving back, especially during hard times. A dynamic that has been seeing a reckoning in recent years on social media. Again, not only is the band killing it on this track, but the song also features none other than Too $hort who adds to the dynamic and storytelling of this track by talking about pimping, obviously drawing very clear parallels between pimps and greedy preachers. It's a track that is going to rub some people the wrong way for sure.

In the second half of the record, we get a lot of tracks that are a bit more romantic as well as cerebral. We have "The Math", which sees Scott trying to figure out a lot of life's biggest questions around love, trauma, fear, the worship of false idols. While "A Universe" explores these feelings of romantic intuition, essentially the sense you get when you know you've met the one and the otherworldly sensations that come along with that. "Don't Play" is a great love-making jam on the record. One where I feel like Jill Scott's personality as a lyricist and a lover really comes through in the lyrics as she's seeking something very specific on this track. It's very much a "if you know, you know" thing. It is perfectly portrayed by lyrics saying, "You ain't no a jackhammer, and I ain't no city street." One of many moments on this thing where I'm just floored by Jill Scott's mind.

Of course, in the final leg of this record, I'm loving the continued versatility, the infectious positivity in the pop funk soul fusion of "Liftin' Me Up". But simultaneously, with this record being as long as it is and Jill having probably sat on a lot of this material for a while, there are some pockets in which it feels a bit bloated or like Jill and her collaborators, are stretching themselves a little thin, not having worked out every kink of a certain sound or energy they are chasing after.

Case in point, "Right Here Right Now", which is trying to go into a bit of a house-inspired direction. But a few layers of instrumentation here and there trending in more of an electronic direction isn't enough to fully move over into that vibe. This track also features one of the weaker or more out-of-place vocal performances from Jill on the record, too. [Also,] I'm shocked to find, Jill and JID's creative chemistry on the track, "To Be Honest", to be a little milder than I expected. Looking at this tracklist, I never thought Ab-Soul would have one of the best features here, really matching her crazy and abstract energy perfectly on "Ode to Nikki".

This album ends off with two of the spaciest and, I would say, most beautiful and entrancing tracks on the entire record. So even if there are some spots along the way where this record feels like it's extending itself a little bit too much, it does finish on a very strong note, making this, in my opinion, arguably the best album Jill Scott has dropped in 20 years, not only because of its songwriting, of its purposeful lyrisism, but the clear chemistry that Jill has with her band and her collaborators on this record. It's a very diverse, engaging album with beautiful groups and instrumentation, impressive vocal performances, and a bold, uncompromising persona that Jill has really grown into in this later stage of her career, where she seemingly just has nothing stopping her from saying and feeling exactly what she thinks and feels.

It's that lack of a filter that leaves me hanging on every word that comes out of her mouth. It's that and her genuine passion for music, for other people, for family in the world that just makes this such a gorgeous and inspiring album, and what a great return. All of that is pretty much why I'm feeling a light 9 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Jill Scott. Forever.