the. light. of. the. sun.

As the biggest Jill Scott fan on this here planet Earth, I'm not exactly floored by the quality of the album. Now, I will fight to the death to defend this woman's voice, sound, artistry, style, and music. I LOVE ME SOME JILL SCOTT. Her albums, every single song, rise to the top of my top played songs in my iTunes and iPod. For every emotion I have, there's a Jill Scott appropriate for it. Whether it's disappointment or excitement or giddy love or making love, I turn to Jill's albums. I'm sure there's even a wedding song somewhere in there. Like for real, Jill Scott is my favorite artist, hands down. THE WOMAN CAN SANG. Not sing y'all, but SANG. If you want my top Jill Scott Must Haves playlist, I'll post it later.

But she's doing something strange with her voice on this album. Her sound is so different that I can't really describe it. I feel like this album is showing where she is in her life and maybe it's not such a good place. And maybe that's a good thing that she's being so real about it.

Hidden Beach also seemed to be providing killer beats and a certain sound that is notably absent from her new album. Like, I have to listen to it over and over to find a song that might be my favorite; whereas, before, I didn't need to find a "favorite" on any of her albums because every damn song was my favorite. But there were stand out cuts; for example, The Real Thing....well, y'all know how I felt about Crown Royal. The song that I have been sitting on my ass waiting for is actually a Bonus Track called I Love You and I've been waiting since I heard her perform it in concert. Funny thing, performing a "new" song on the concert circuits that will only end up as a bonus track...
Interestingly enough, "So In Love" from this album had the highest debut of her career on the R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart at #43, and has since peaked at #11. So what does that say about her commercial success? What does that say about what we listeners demand from our radio stations? It's a shame that the highest debut had to debut from what might be most notably the most interesting (not necessarily the best) album she's had in her career. I can feel through her voice that she is going through something. Her sound isn't crisp; will we appreciate her more because she isn't singing gleefully and beautifully about love and sex? Do we tend to love the artists that are miserable and singing from a place of pain, confusion, unhappiness and disappointment more than we do those who are happy in love and proud of where they're at in life? Jill's album could end up being extremely successful, more than any of the others after her debut album, if so.

Or maybe I am not qualified enough as a music critic to say that the musical quality on this album is just different. I don't know what I expected, Jill. But I was definitely caught off guard. "So In Love" is definitely the strongest song/single of the album. She does her original spoken word so well, though. Jill is a poet, first and foremost. And damn, she's a good one. She can tell a story; see, "Some Other Time".

This album has garnered a solid B+, so it's worth the buy. Hell, I'd buy the album just for the bonus track, "I Love You" because I can't get enough of the song. But Jill....*side lip* GIRL, GIRL. Where you at, girl?