Jill Scott is The Real Thing

R&B singer Jill Scott rocks come-do-me open-toed heals on a three-by-three inch disclaimer to her new album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3: Eroticism is chosen over explicit lyrics, so the album plays like pages of a journal read. Recently divorced and known especially for her sensuality, Scott is stark in her expressions.

The sex-laced quickie, “Crown Royal,” is strictly for the bedroom. Over a quiet beat, Scott whispers, “Your hands on my hips pull me right back to you/ I catch that thrust give it right back to you.” The song is about that regal man who just can’t be had, not right now, which is why he’s Crown Royal (“on ice”).

The Real Thing makes “delicious” of words (shout-out Scott’s first album, Who Is Jill Scott?), even though the first single “Hate on Me” sounds like a battle between voice and band. She goes vintage in “All I,” where she talks over a beat and then with grown woman kinkiness: “I’ve been a goodie daddy/ but I don’t have to be/ if you don’t want me to/ I’ll be ya nasty baby”—lyrics that dirty up the sweet hook of “Baby when I close my eyes/ all I dream about it making love.” And Scott stays true to her poetic roots in “Epiphany,” where the spoken word is so fine listeners are transported to a blue-light café with retro mic, song complete with crisp breaths and popped p’s.

Jill Scott’s lyricism tops her expressive game in The Real Thing. Her delivery is at times playful, at others, full of pain; and though fans may have expected more organic beats, the album isn’t about how hard it knocks; with words so honest, the album’s about life, the images that make it up and the lines it can fit into.