Jill Scott Announces First Album in Over a Decade, Releases Reflective New Single “Beautiful People”
Jill Scott is officially returning with her first full-length album in more than a decade. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will release To Whom This May Concern on Feb. 13, marking her first LP since 2015’s Woman. The announcement follows a prolonged period away from releasing solo studio work and signals a new creative chapter for an artist whose catalog has long balanced personal reflection with cultural resonance.
Scott introduces the album with the newly released single Beautiful People, a warm, understated tribute to the community that supported her during her years off the album cycle. Rather than positioning the track as a grand statement, Scott frames it as an acknowledgment, an expression of gratitude toward collaborators, friends, and listeners who remained present even in her absence. “Creating takes a village,” she wrote in a message accompanying the release, emphasizing the collective nature of the project.
That ethos extends to the single’s artwork, which features an image of Scott’s mother, Joyce Alice. In a personal reflection shared online, Scott credited her mother with instilling her earliest creative instincts, from an emotional relationship to music to an appreciation for imagination and care. The choice underscores a recurring theme in Scott’s work: lineage, memory, and the ways personal history informs artistic voice.
To Whom This May Concern follows Woman, an album that found Scott navigating maturity, autonomy, and emotional clarity. The forthcoming record assembles a wide-ranging group of collaborators, including Andre Harris, Adam Blackstone, Darhyl Camper, DJ Premier, and Trombone Shorty, figures who collectively span soul, hip-hop, jazz, and contemporary R&B. Scott has described the sessions as fluid and human, shaped as much by conversation and laughter as by musical rigor, suggesting a process grounded in trust rather than pressure.
The timing of the album is notable. Last year marked the 25th anniversary of Scott’s 2000 debut, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, a defining release that helped establish the neo-soul movement at the turn of the millennium. Reflecting on that album in a past interview, Scott spoke about how stories evolve alongside the listener, taking on new meanings as life experience deepens. That perspective appears to inform her current return.
In that sense, To Whom This May Concern reads less like a comeback than a deliberate re-entry. Scott has avoided framing the album as a bid to reclaim relevance, instead presenting it as an offering shaped by patience and perspective. Her public messages around the release emphasize listening, suggesting an artist attentive to timing and intention.
