Jill Scott Releases First Album in 10 Years After Hiatus to Focus on Motherhood

Jill Scott is back. The GRAMMY-winning singer released To Whom This May Concern on Feb. 13, her first album in a decade and her sixth studio effort overall. The 19-track project follows 2015's Woman and arrives via Blues Babe, Human Re Sources, and The Orchard.

"I feel relieved," Scott, 53, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. Having released To Whom This May Concern, she says, "My baby's outside, and people are responding to it in beautiful ways and actually listening, which gives me the greatest joy."

The hiatus was deeply personal. Scott focused on raising her son, Jett Hamilton Roberts, born in 2009, and navigating the end of her two marriages — to DJ Lyzel Williams, whom she wed in 2001 and divorced in 2007, and to Mike Dobson, whom she married in 2016 and divorced in 2018. "I definitely made some bad decisions based on the fact that I liked someone, a couple of times, I think," Scott says. "But trust me, even in that, I don't regret it at all. It got me here in this place and time in my life."

Rooted in her North Philadelphia upbringing and her mother's guidance to find beauty amid hardship, Scott's resilience carried her through. She stepped back from music to prioritize family. "I needed time to be with my family, raise my kid to the best of my ability," she says. She also addresses a deeply personal chapter: "I'm in the middle of menopause right now. I'm different in ways that I didn't intend on being different, but I'm here, and I love what I do. It's a thrill and a privilege."

The new album reflects that earned perspective, exploring heartbreak, growth, vulnerability, and empowerment — themes Scott says she's been building toward for years. "These past 10 years, I was really focused on making sure he was great so that I could get to this portion of my existence," Scott says. "I've been waiting to be this age and in this place my whole life. I'm speaking from time and growth, some failures, and beautiful successes. I'm really happy to be here."

Scott's breakthrough came with her 2000 debut, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1. She has since earned multiple GRAMMY Awards across a career spanning music, acting, and poetry.