Headed in the right direction
Jill Scott needed to take a deep, soul-energizing breath and reacquaint herself with Jill Scott the person, not Jill Scott the star.
She wanted time to be a daughter to her mother Joyce and become the wife of her longtime beau, Lyzel Williams. She wanted to ride bikes and observe people.
So the North Philadelphia native stepped away for two years, an eternity in the music world —and a move fraught with risk.
Would the music business still care about a now 32-year-old, plus-sized singer who shuns young producers-of-the-second like Pharrell or Kanye West and prefers socially conscious, thoughtful lyrics over pabulum about clubbing?
Beyond that, Scott says, “I needed to know if I still had the same kind of relationship (with fans) that I remember. I don’t want to assume; I just want to know. Is it genuine? Is it still there? Is it all that it should be?”
The answers came during the Buzz Tour, small-venue concerts this summer where Scott introduced material from her new album “Beautifully Human: Words & Sounds, Vol. 2.”
During her stop at Philadelphia’s Theater of the Living Arts last month, when Scott sang “Rasool,” a somber song about the death of a young man in North Philadelphia, she asked the audience to call out names of loved ones killed under similar circumstances. Sadly, names floated up from every corner of the sold-out theater.
“It was a complete and total affirmation that I’m headed in the right direction,” Scott said.
A product of Philly’s underground soul and poetry movement, Scott in 2000 became the darling of the so-called “neo-soul” genre for her poetic lyrics, wondrous voice and accessible, “you-know-what-I-mean-girl?” persona.
Her debut album, “Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1,” went double platinum in 2000 with hits such as “A Long Walk,” “Getting in the Way” and “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat).”
Excellent live performances increased her popularity. Her sophomore album, “Experience: Jill Scott” was released in 2002.
Her label, Hidden Beach, was “very understanding” about her time off, Scott said.
“There was no issue or beef because of my relationship with (founder) Steve McKeever,” she said. “He batted down the walls and said (I) needed some time.”
Scott got married and bought a house in New Jersey. She lost nearly 25 pounds. She directed and was featured in label mate Jeff Bradshaw’s video “Slide.”
She also made guest appearances on UPN’S “Girlfriends” and on the Showtime movie “Cave Dwellers.” She wrote a book of poetry, “The Minute, The Moment, The Hour,” which will be published by St. Martin Press next April. She started the Blues Babe Foundation (her grandmother’s nickname), which helps poor young people of color interested in college with money and mentoring.
What Scott didn’t do was sing or write songs for a year. “Nothing was coming,” she said. “I wasn’t forcing the issue.”
However the next year, “the lyrics began to come … in a rush, waking me up 4 a.m. in the morning,” she said. “I just went with the flow.”
Her new songs talk of the importance of black men (“Fact Is (I Need You)”); thoughts of an old flame (“Cross My Mind”); catchy self-affirmation (“Golden,” the album’s first single); the government (“My Petition”); a warm gathering (“Family Reunion”); and a communication breakdown between a couple (“Talk To Me”) in which the sound goes from R&B to big band jazz as Scott changes tactics in an effort to get her mate to talk.
The success of “Beautifully Human” may lie in whether the disc can sustain the trust and rapport with listeners Scott has worked on since 2000.
“I’m hoping to provide a certain level of trust that I’m not going to come at them with something beneath their intelligence,” she said, “nothing that will ultimately harm the spirit.”