Five Reasons Why the New Jill Scott Album is Great

We asked friend to Musiqology, Birgitta Johnson, to tell us why we should check for Jill Scott’s new album, Woman, and this is the knowledge she dropped.

1. Her musical arrangements & studio bands are always top shelf.

2. When Jilly from Philly is giving you Philly soul, the world is better for it. Even the o.k./so-so/well?…veerings off into grittier blues arrangements are definitely tolerable in context of a well put together album project.

3. Jill’s approach and method through catharsis as a songwriter has indeed evolved. And it was already pretty advanced considering the current landscape for R&B/soul songwriting today.

4. When you ask yourself more than three times for some liner notes before half the album is over, you know it has THE GOODS.

5. There’s a return to spirituality that runs through the album that is honest, raw, thoughtful, hopeful, and not preachy, rote, or knee jerk. WOMAN, indeed. (Also see #3)

Birgitta Johnson, Ph.D. (@DrBirgittaSays) is assistant professor of music and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. Her book based on her dissertation, “‘Worship Waves, Navigating Identities: Music in the Black Church at the Turn of the 21st Century ” is forthcoming.