Last week, Jill Scott checked in with fans on Instagram, sharing the message: “The inspiration has finally manifested, and the countdown to greatness has officially begun.” Now, the countdown has a date. On Feb. 13, Scott will release To Whom This May Concern, her first full-length LP in more than a decade.
Scott previews the record with the newly-released single “Beautiful People,” an homage to the people who supported her in her years away from music. “Creating takes a village,” she wrote on Instagram on Jan. 2. “I’m sharing my beautiful people most literally.”
The cover artwork for the single features an image of her mother, Joyce Alice. “She gave me creativity like you hand somebody an embroidered napkin,” Scott wrote. “She taught me how to hold given flowers. She showed me how to feel music. She shared her imagination.”
To Whom This May Concern follows 2015’s Woman and recruits collaborators Andre Harris, Adam Blackstone, Darhyl Camper, DJ Premier, and Trombone Shorty. Scott shared that the record “had and has a bevy of thoughtful, talented and focused folk to assist me on my work. Sometimes musician, sometimes, just a releasing friend to laugh with. We had fun!!!” Scott also shared thanks to her audience “for your patience and your listening ears” as she makes her return.
Last year, Scott’s debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?, turned 25. In 2015, she reflected on the album in an interview with Rolling Stone. “They’re stories I love to tell. The Giving Tree — what a wonderful story. I loved it at the time, but when I read it to my son, I have an understanding of it that I didn’t when I read it to myself or when my mom read it to me when I was younger,” she said. “Somebody will relate to [Who Is Jill Scott] at some point in their lives, and a lot of people have fond memories of that time. It’s the same for me.”
With To Whom This May Concern, Scott will introduce another batch of music to tell stories through in hopes of connecting on a greater scale.