Album Review: The Real Thing, Words and Sounds Vol. 3, by Jill Scott

Jill Scott is a very emotional writer. Her lyrical abilities were perfected through years of spoken word poetry. Always deeply personal and relatable, Jill Scott shows signs of significant maturation where her fourth studio album The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3.

Perhaps a little background is in order for this particular review. During her work on The Real Thing, Jill Scott went through a divorce. The songs in The Real Thing all reflect either her effort to try to reconcile the relationship or her heartbreak over the loss. The result is her most powerful studio recording yet.

Jill Scott's song writing is always top notch. She knows her voice, it's limits, and what works for her. Jill Scott uses every aspect of her voice to create a sonic profile of raw emotion that cannot be beat by her contemporaries. Her upbeat, radio friendly songs, like Hate on Me, have an intellectual and realistic element missing from other modern R&B/soul artists. The ballads, like Come See Me, are anything but serene and boring. Every song on the album comes across as real because it is real to Jill Scott. That is a difficult, and impressive, skill to master.

The album is orchestrated within an inch of its life. The balance between content, style, tempo, and emotion leaves the user alert. The Real Thing is not the kind of album you can turn on and do other work to. Jill Scott commands attention, even through speakers or headphones, and now, more than ever, it's hard to resist that call.

For the first time, Jill Scott has embraced a more contemporary production style. Unlike her prior four albums (one, the exquisite live album Experience: Jill Scott, was a two disc set including a live concert recording and B-sides from her debut Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1), The Real Thing is filled with digital instrumentation and harder backing beats. Even more than just digital, Jill Scott's sound seems to be more expansive. Tiny flourishes of rock, county, and pop seep into songs in pleasant, unexpected ways. This sonic expansion is a long time coming, and is most certainly a welcome change from the very genre-specific work of Jill Scott in the past.

The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 may not be for everyone. Jill Scott's style isn't easily pegged down as one thing or another. Her content is universal, but she's not afraid to go into subjects people don't always talk about. The album is most certainly worth a try for the sheer adventurous spirit and maturity one of the upcoming great recording artists is demonstrating.