Released: February 13, 2026
Genre: Rnb, Neo-Soul
Run Time: 58 minutes
American singer-songwriter Jill Scott makes her return after 11 years with her sixth studio album. Even at the young age of 54 Jill Scott’s vocal talent and dynamic songwriting have aged like fine wine. The album spans soulful jazz-infused R’n’B to funny and charming boom bap rapping, to beautiful poetry sprinkled in between (for good measure).
Whilst some artists in Scott’s position in the industry might be seen making as ‘cash grabs’ when releasing albums, or riding off the coattails of one of their previous works, sonically this album still pushes boundaries and adds extra flavour to her discography without creating a stale taste in the listener’s ears. With a slew of creative inputs and collaborators from the likes of Tierra Whack, Ab-Soul and producers DJ Premier, Adam Blackstone and Trombone Shorty, To Whom This May Concern is beaming with character, style and humour. The humour really shines on tracks like ‘BPOTY’ (Biggest Pimp of the Year) featuring rapper Too $hort; a little jazz funk number that whilst playful shows two sides of the same coin regarding the act of ‘pimping’. For Jill Scott it’s how the system is pimping out its citizens via pharmaceutical companies, universities, churches. Too $hort takes the approach of playing the part of the systems pimping out their people.
I want to say Jill Scott is back in her prime, but that’d be a lie, because whilst it took nearly a decade to come back with a record of her own, it’s like she never left. It’s a fun cruisy listen all round, introspective lyrics and jazzy boppy instrumentals, this is a highly recommended album for something a little out of the mainstream.
8/10
