- 13 minutes ago
Miss Jill Scott sits down with Billboard’s Gail Mitchell to discuss her new album ‘To Whom This May Concern’ plus the generational impact & inspiration behind her music and collaborating with Too $hort, J.I.D, Tierra Whack and more.
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00:00I feel flustered. I feel excited. I feel tired. I feel thrilled. It's all that.
00:08All that.
00:08La, la, la, la, la. It's all of that.
00:15I'm just so thrilled and jazzed and I can't even think of enough adjectives to describe how I feel
00:21sitting here next to this three-time Grammy Award winner who's back with a new album, Miss Jill Scott.
00:26Hello.
00:26Hi, Gail Mitchell.
00:28Hey, welcome back.
00:29Oh, my God.
00:30It's been a long time.
00:31I can't even remember the last time. It's been a very long time.
00:32Right.
00:33And I was just thinking as I was figuring out some questions to ask you, this is a full circle moment for the both of us
00:39because you were my first front page billboard story with your debut album, Who's Jill Scott?
00:45Words and Sounds, Volume 1, your debut album at the same time.
00:49So I was there for that and now I'm back here for this, which I don't know if you mind me saying this,
00:53but kind of like a rebirth.
00:55It's just, oh, my God, this is the reception that you've gotten in the anticipation.
00:59This is your sixth studio album.
01:01Yes.
01:01To whom this may concern.
01:03Mm-hmm.
01:03And it reminds me of the anticipation for your first one, Who is Jill Scott?
01:07So when you first announced on social media this was coming, everything, everybody just kind of, oh, my God.
01:12So was that the reaction you expected?
01:14I mean, it's just tremendous.
01:15Were you nervous?
01:16Just what did you think when you got ready to hit the send button and let the world know that you were back?
01:21Honestly, it's been like a whole process.
01:25Like initially I felt pregnant and I felt tired of holding it, you know?
01:32The idea of giving your baby to the world and seeing what they're going to do with it, you know, is very, very scary.
01:39You know this as a parent, you know, and I do too.
01:43I remembered what I call the album, To Whom This May Concern, which kind of released me in a sense.
01:49Like, okay, this is for the people it's for.
01:53And the way that I know the universe and I know the creator, I'm like, it's going to go to who it's for.
02:00The rest is not your concern.
02:03That made me feel better.
02:04Then I got excited.
02:05And I was like, okay.
02:07You know, we got what?
02:09You know, it's a countdown.
02:11All right, here we go.
02:12I feel flustered.
02:13I feel excited.
02:14I feel tired.
02:15I feel thrilled.
02:19It's all that.
02:20All that.
02:21La, la, la, la, la, la.
02:22It's all of that.
02:24The rollout is, the album comes out Feb 13th.
02:27So you've been on a promo tour.
02:28So you said in recent interviews about the album that everybody kept saying, well, where have you been?
02:33What went on?
02:34What was going on?
02:35Why the long break?
02:36And you talked about external pressures, you know, just a lot.
02:40There's life pressures, conforming to others' images because everybody's so concerned about putting people in a box and designating, you fit this genre, you do this, you do this, the push for commercial success or you're a failure, all that kind of stuff.
02:51So when and what moment of feeling triggered or fostered the idea, I'm ready to get back in the studio?
02:57I had been recording quite a bit.
03:01I would travel to different cities and record with different producers, different musicians.
03:06I incurred a lot of cost for myself because, you know, I had to stay somewhere nice, you know.
03:12So I spent a lot of nights in studios and then I just felt like I have so much, I can't hold this anymore.
03:21It's the whole, like, pregnancy metaphor.
03:23It's like I can no longer hold this baby.
03:26I've got to let it out.
03:28So here we are, days away.
03:30What else were you doing?
03:32You talked about a creative block as well.
03:34So were there things you were trying to do to break that block or were you just letting go and letting the universe and life just take you where you needed to be at that point in time?
03:41Just what were you doing?
03:43I did not have a creative block.
03:45Okay.
03:46I didn't.
03:46I just took a creative break.
03:49It's there.
03:50It's always there.
03:51It's an energy that follows me around the house.
03:54It's in the shower, clearly.
03:57It's when I'm cleaning.
03:58It's, you know, when I'm making a bed, it's always existing, you know.
04:02But I needed to take a break from that so that I could live life, you know.
04:08I am, you know, a human being.
04:12So, of course, there's all kinds of stuff.
04:13Oh, like, you know, perimenopause.
04:16Hmm.
04:17That's interesting.
04:19You know, I have a teenager now.
04:21That's different than ever before.
04:23His voice is down.
04:25You know what I mean?
04:25Yeah, I've been there.
04:26All of those things.
04:27My mother, you know, she's independent.
04:32But must be eyed because she's like a bad teenager.
04:36Just so grown that I can't necessarily wrangle her in.
04:40But I got to try to guide her.
04:42You know what I mean?
04:43So, you know, I've been living a life.
04:46Good for you.
04:47I really don't think you can create without having the balance between the two.
04:53It's important to, one, connect with yourself.
04:56Remember who you are.
04:58Like, I tell my folk, and you're one of my folk.
05:03Yeah.
05:04Jill Scott doesn't live in my house.
05:06Nobody calls me that in my house.
05:08There's a separation so that I can fill her up.
05:12And that's me.
05:13I have to fill me up so I can fill Jill.
05:16Scott.
05:17Right.
05:18You know, they're different, respectfully.
05:20But they are.
05:21Also, the artwork by visual artist Marcellus.
05:24Did that come first or after you started working on the songs for the album and picking his particular piece of artwork?
05:30It's good, isn't it?
05:32Mm-hmm.
05:32I had a piece of art from my friend Patrick Dower that had always been the album cover in my mind.
05:40As time passed, I needed to find another piece of art.
05:44I saw this piece with this bright color and this woman who resembles so many people, so many people.
05:55But it was the words that are written on her body, and it's a declaration.
05:59Every part of this art, to whom this may concern, is intentional.
06:04Why wouldn't the artwork be as well?
06:06When I saw it, I knew she can represent this wonderfully.
06:11So, I had the pleasure last night of listening with my daughter to the 19 tracks on the album.
06:17My God, it's well worth the wait.
06:19I'm telling everybody now.
06:20How many songs on the album had already been simmering since your last album, 2015's Woman?
06:27They're all within the last 18 months or so.
06:32Okay, wow.
06:33Okay, so it did come gushing out.
06:35Well, sometimes I'll get a line, and I'll write it down, and it's a certain handwriting.
06:44A couple of months later, I'll be scrolling through a book, and I'll see that handwriting, and it'll trigger, and then I'll write something else.
06:51Sometimes it's a verse.
06:52Sometimes it's a verse and a hook.
06:54Ooh.
06:54Sometimes, you know, sometimes it's just writing the way that the melody goes, and then I'll record it.
07:03It's this.
07:04Back and forth.
07:05It's a back and forth.
07:06It's like making, like a quilt, and I'm collecting pieces as I live.
07:11And then, oh, I should say, yeah, I feel like that's, mm-hmm.
07:15Is that genuine to me?
07:17Does that feel right to me?
07:18Is that true?
07:19Yes.
07:19Write it.
07:20You know, and then that's kind of, yeah.
07:22Well, I like that analogy, the quilt, because my grandmother and some of my cousins are quilt makers, so, yes, love that.
07:27The sequencing, was that all you on the album?
07:30I've had maybe 72 sequences.
07:35Eventually, I went to someone who could tell me what to do.
07:41That objective kind of stand back.
07:43Yes.
07:43So you could stand back.
07:44Yes, because everybody seemed to have their own sequence, which is fine.
07:49However, I needed, to whom this may concern, be what I needed it to be.
07:55I was like, okay, I think I've gone as far as I can go.
07:58I think I'm too emotional and too connected emotionally to, you know, this work.
08:04I'm going to let someone else help me, walk me through.
08:08And that was David Kutch.
08:09And I was like, oh, thank God.
08:11I was like, how much work can I do?
08:14You know what I mean?
08:15I think you both bookend it beautifully.
08:18It opens with Dope Shit and then closes with Sincerely Do.
08:22Yes.
08:22So I wanted to ask, which seems to sum up, without anybody having listened all the way through yet, many people,
08:27the whole intention behind the album, as you said first earlier in the conversation.
08:31So did that sequencing, ending and opening and beginning with those two songs fit with what you had already sequenced?
08:37Or was that the other person you brought in?
08:39I've had so many.
08:40Okay.
08:40So I've had that bookend several, several, several times.
08:44Okay.
08:45But when we really started to look at it, I think Dope Shit kind of was a testimony to everything that I put into the album.
08:55Stayed up many nights just to write, a hunger in my belly and a savage appetite.
09:01I check this checklist every day of my life.
09:03I make love.
09:03I be good.
09:04I make love.
09:05I make love.
09:07I make love.
09:08I be good.
09:10I be good.
09:11I be good.
09:12I be good.
09:14You know what I mean?
09:15And I do dope shit on the regular.
09:17And I like this feeling for me.
09:19I like this feeling for anybody.
09:20So then the next song, which is Be Great, that made sense because that's dope shit.
09:28Like, be great.
09:29You know?
09:30But I don't want to tell you everything.
09:32I don't want to tell y'all everything.
09:33But then it continues with Beautiful People, which a lot of you have heard.
09:38I beg of you to listen to it many times as you possibly can in your life for the rest of your life.
09:44I'm in this place where I'm in, this age, this level of daughter, this level of mother, this level of human being.
09:53I am graduating to being loudly connected with beautiful people.
10:03It's not exterior.
10:05It's internal.
10:06And they show up in powerful ways.
10:10And I never expected.
10:11But they show up because I can see it.
10:14I honor it.
10:15And it happens more and more and more.
10:18I'm fascinated by it all.
10:20I'm supremely grateful that this is my pattern of life.
10:25Which also means that there's some other work.
10:28We're cutting the people who are not so beautiful out of my gig.
10:32You gotta go.
10:33You gotta go.
10:35You gotta go.
10:37Aw.
10:38Take care.
10:40Because I was sitting on the edge of my seat.
10:42Okay, what's next?
10:43She can't top this.
10:44What's next?
10:45What's next?
10:45So great on the sequencing.
10:50Beautiful people to call out.
10:58Pressure to call in.
10:59I guess, I guess I get it.
11:02So much pressure.
11:04Come inside, y'all.
11:05We gotta, we gotta, we gotta look at this thing here.
11:08And don't play.
11:10Change the position of.
11:13Get me Afro beats.
11:15Because don't.
11:16Don't play.
11:18Loving is so important, particularly right now.
11:22With the kind of turmoil that we're dealing with.
11:25The kind of, the levels of fear.
11:27Oh, we gotta connect.
11:28We gotta connect.
11:29And you can't do that.
11:31This is obviously just my opinion.
11:33But, I'm the artist in question.
11:36So, I know.
11:38I know.
11:40And every fighter has to fortify before they go out and fight.
11:46Every warrior trains.
11:48And I know, you know, people will make it seem like, particularly with boxing.
11:53And any kind of like MMA, which I'm into.
11:54That you're not supposed to be physically intimate.
11:59Even in religion.
12:00Some religion says that you're not supposed to be sexually involved with a person before you pray.
12:06I tend to believe that that's where you pray.
12:09We have to strengthen in other ways in order to handle what we're facing.
12:17So, don't play.
12:18I made it campy.
12:20I made it fun.
12:21You know, I connected.
12:23People call it black stuff, black stuff.
12:24Yeah.
12:26Yeah.
12:26Some of my immediate faves.
12:28You brought up Be Great.
12:29I like that one.
12:31Off the bag.
12:32Why'd you hold your heart?
12:33I just.
12:34It's just.
12:34The cultural.
12:35Because you run the gamut with this album.
12:38Yeah.
12:38From your signature themes of love, self-affirmation, and freedom to do and be you.
12:42As well as cultural and historical touchstones.
12:45And then, as you mentioned earlier about the times we're living in the whole social consciousness.
12:49I don't know how deep you want to get into it now.
12:51But which three songs beyond the three we just talked about.
12:54What would you, for someone who doesn't know who Jill Scott is, what two or three songs after those three on the album would you recommend that they.
13:01I need you to listen to the whole album.
13:02That is why.
13:03I'm glad you said that.
13:04I need you to listen to the whole thing.
13:05Okay.
13:05It is really a body of work.
13:07Everything is intentional.
13:08I know that we listen to songs and we skip around to what our favorites are.
13:14But this is an album.
13:15Respectfully, if you don't know what an album is, please look that up.
13:19But I'm going to say that it's a complete body of work.
13:23It's a finished meal, prepared and plated.
13:28I would ask you to please give that an opportunity.
13:31You know, I know you're going to make your own playlist.
13:33I know you're going to do what you need to do.
13:35I'm not mad.
13:36I mean, I'm happy if you, you know, when you listen to it.
13:40But give that, give it, take a full bite of the sandwich with all the stuff.
13:46Accouturements and the, you know, the honey mustards and the, yeah, that's what I would want.
13:54My process kind of works like this.
13:56I wait to be inspired.
13:58You're able to pinpoint such relatable feelings.
14:00And it's across generations because I can talk to my daughter who's in her 30s and we vibe.
14:05And I just know that this is going to bring you to a whole new generation of listeners too as well.
14:10It's just something you were born with when you started writing your poetry or just?
14:14I never thought about that, Gail.
14:17It's the women that I've grown up around.
14:22From Bow-Legged Nana, who was over the banister, who made lemon cookies and her house always smelled so good.
14:29And when the boys were bothering me too much, she would make me sit on her porch and drink tea and eat those lemon cookies.
14:35Heaven, okay?
14:37And then there was Leslie, who was built like a brick shit house.
14:41Ooh-wee.
14:42When she would walk down the street, all the guys would get quiet.
14:46And I used to love that.
14:47I'm like, you look nice.
14:49That's Leslie.
14:51You know what I mean?
14:52Like, I've had these really impactful women in my space.
14:58And some are young, and some are really old.
15:02And I've enjoyed, you know, being in that community.
15:05I'm honestly very much a voyeur.
15:09It's my thing.
15:11Yeah, I really, really like that.
15:12Like, people are art.
15:14So there's all these wonderful little, you know, figgety-doos and gidgety-gots.
15:18You know, it's so delicious if you're able to do that.
15:22And that 10 years, that space, I was able to do that as well.
15:26You know, reconnect with relationships that I've missed and didn't know and released some relationships that needed to, you know, scram.
15:37Oh, to Nikki.
15:39And I believe that's to Nikki Giovanni.
15:42Absolutely.
15:42Okay.
15:43Did you ever get the chance to meet, see her, talk to her?
15:46Nope.
15:46But was she one of your influences with your work?
15:49She was my first.
15:50Okay.
15:51Ms. Fran Danish, my eighth grade English teacher, gave us an assignment.
15:56And she put all these names on a list.
15:59And we were supposed to pick someone and write an essay about them.
16:02I didn't, I don't know.
16:04I didn't feel like it.
16:05Ms. Danish was one of those teachers who would paint my nails during recess and tell me her life.
16:11She also drove a Jaguar and wore a mink coat to school.
16:17I thought she was everything.
16:19But she gave me this list and I just, I didn't know, you know, I just picked one.
16:26And I landed on Nikki Giovanni and I thought it was Italian guy.
16:31It had an I.
16:32And all the Nikki's I ever saw was with a Y.
16:34And I was like, okay.
16:35And then I opened this book.
16:36That was it.
16:37There was me on paper and my grandma and my cousin and my uncle and my dad and my community
16:44and my sadness, my fears.
16:49I never saw myself on paper before.
16:52And that's when I started to write.
16:54Yeah.
16:55So, oh, to Nikki.
16:55We just lost her last year and I tried to get in her class.
17:00She was teaching at Temple University, but I couldn't get in there.
17:04Like it was booked.
17:05It was done within an hour or so.
17:09Like people were clamoring to get.
17:12I wanted to sit in.
17:13I wanted to stand in the back.
17:14None of those things.
17:15So I didn't get a chance to actually meet her.
17:18I did see her walking down the street one day in Philly.
17:21She had an aura.
17:22Yeah.
17:23Yeah.
17:23So I went to a book fair and had her sign a book of her poetry.
17:26You did.
17:27Yeah.
17:27And she just, this little diminutive person.
17:30And she just, yeah.
17:32So you have a very nice eclectic mix of guests on the album.
17:36So how did you come on that particular group?
17:39Maha, the poet, and I met at a terrible poetry reading many years ago.
17:44I was working on something else.
17:45Called her, invited her, like, come hang with me and maybe we can write something together.
17:51And we did for another project.
17:53But she wrote this poem and I heard it and I was like, oh my God, you're speaking my whole life.
17:58That's it.
17:59That's how I start.
18:01Too Short, I cannot remember where we met each other, but I'm a big fan.
18:06I have an appreciation, a respect for the hoe and pimp culture.
18:13I don't understand, but, and I'm absolutely fascinated by it.
18:18Too Short has always been the rapper who best expressed that kind of energy.
18:23I wanted someone who could explain Biggest Pimp of the Year what being a pimp is.
18:31I don't know.
18:33I really don't know any pimps.
18:35But, you know, he does.
18:38And he's, you know, had these experiences.
18:40So I asked him.
18:41It only made sense.
18:43Tierra Whack, because she's a dope emcee, her metaphors are hilarious.
18:48The cadence in which she rhymes, like, is fire.
18:51And she's from Philly, too.
18:53Right.
18:53Shout out to Beyoncé.
18:55Tony, Janet, Tierra Whack.
18:57Jilly from Philly, I love you, boo.
18:58She mentioned the both of us on her song, which was, like, highlight.
19:03Like, oh my life.
19:04It was awesome.
19:06And then J.I.D.
19:08So I heard this song.
19:09J.I.D. was in it.
19:11And I said, my God.
19:13That man can rap.
19:14Like, that's a rap.
19:15That's an emcee.
19:16Woo!
19:17Painting pictures.
19:18It seems like he's got little knives.
19:21Oh, it's a ninja.
19:24You know what I mean?
19:25Like, it's the way he can create a story.
19:29And I needed a story told.
19:32So my son tells me, Mom, you should call J.I.D.
19:36And I was like, I don't have, you know, his number yet.
19:39I don't know everybody, honey.
19:40In the world.
19:41And he was like, Mom, just DM him.
19:43I was like, oh.
19:46Okay.
19:47Oh, okay.
19:48So I did.
19:49Minutes later, he hit me right back, which is wild.
19:53Wow.
19:53Within less than 24 hours, what, maybe six hours, he sent me the verse that's on the album.
20:00With all the extra nuances that he did, I was like, yes, yes, you understand.
20:07I think it's a masterpiece.
20:09I also had D.W., who is an amazing bassist.
20:12He is expressing.
20:15I needed him to express what is going on with you.
20:21Now, whomever listens to it, whoever this may concern, whoever listens to it, I think you're going to come up with your own thoughts.
20:30He has some feelings, obviously, but he laid it, he laid it so gracefully, so gently, so intently, like, and passionately, his verse, if you will, because he's speaking as well.
20:44Right.
20:44You know, so the album is surrounded by writers.
20:48That matters to me.
20:50And the same with producers, because you've got a who's who here.
20:54Andre Harris, I had worked with from my first album and probably my second and third.
21:00You know, we always find our way to each other since he's everywhere.
21:06He's doing great.
21:07So proud.
21:08Carvin Hagans, who isn't mentioned as a producer, but he introduced me to people he suggested, and that was, like, super beneficial.
21:18Adam Blackstone, he was my M.D.
21:21I think he must have been 16 years old.
21:23No, that's a lie.
21:24No, that's too young.
21:25He must have been 19 or 20 when he first started working with me and became my M.D. immediately, which was wild, you know, for my show to have a 19-year-old, 20-year-old M.D.
21:40Right.
21:40He is that talented and always been that talented.
21:43How all the production happened, I literally just got up and went.
21:50And you said you were traveling around to different places.
21:53Yeah.
21:53Okay.
21:53What are some of the places?
21:55L.A., Nashville, home?
21:57L.A. a few times.
21:58Definitely in Nashville.
22:00People came to me sometimes.
22:02New York, absolutely.
22:03I just kept bobbing all over the place, and people would come to me as well.
22:07I probably should have been documenting it all.
22:10Well, sometimes that can obstruct what you're trying to do.
22:13You just were going with the flow.
22:15Yes.
22:16Yes.
22:17All right.
22:17I'm led.
22:18Okay.
22:18I'm a led person.
22:20I just wait to be led.
22:22I'll sit still until it's time to move, and then I'll know it because it's no question.
22:27Got to go.
22:29Oh, go to New York.
22:31All right.
22:31See you in a little while.
22:32It's just the energy.
22:34And then when it was finally done, it was finally cooked, I looked up, and I had this bevy of producers
22:40and friends, and VT Toland, who is someone I will treasure, always.
22:45I met him at a party.
22:47He says, I'm an engineer for Too Short.
22:51Okay.
22:52Too Short's already on the album.
22:54So I called Short.
22:55You know, like, yo, you know the dude?
22:57He was like, yep.
22:59But I had already given him my number.
23:01It was something about him.
23:03Okay.
23:03You know, just, he's a beautiful people.
23:05And he was, he wasn't arrogant.
23:08It didn't come off as arrogant.
23:09It wasn't like a flex.
23:11He was like, I engineer for Too Short.
23:13Right.
23:13Can I send you some music?
23:14And I was like, mm-hmm.
23:16Yes, you can.
23:18You know, just, just, that's the energy.
23:21Back in the day, I don't think TikTok and Instagram were such a thing.
23:24And you announced the album on Instagram and stuff.
23:28But I just want to get your take, being a public figure now and navigating the pressures
23:33that can come with social media, just what's your outlook as an artist and whatever.
23:37I don't know sometimes how some artists deal with that.
23:40Go with the flow.
23:41I know it's hard.
23:44Because you want to say something, and then I'm sure, and you don't.
23:47Because somebody could misconstrue whatever, yeah.
23:50There's no particular way to navigate social media except, for me, this is how I, I will
24:02offer, and that's it.
24:06You come as you come.
24:08You enjoy as you enjoy.
24:10But I think I'm pretty much done with expressing too many thoughts.
24:16And then I'll, you know, if I say it, then, you know, I do not have to deal with that.
24:21Right.
24:22I don't know yet.
24:23Like, I feel like I need to be careful with my, my little heart.
24:27I think that there are a lot of upset people for a multitude of solid reasons.
24:32I think it's fair.
24:34I am more interested in initiating a relationship with the people who still have light and the
24:42people that are looking for light and enjoying the light and shining within.
24:48Those are, that's who I'm looking for.
24:50The rest, I can gracefully dismiss.
24:58Gotcha.
24:58That fair?
24:59Yeah, that's fair.
24:59I think so, too.
25:00I think so.
25:01You've already talked about the climate.
25:03I call it a Twilight Zone climate because you can't make some of the stuff up that's going
25:06on, really, in this life right now.
25:09And I've told you, I feel this is a generational album in a press release about the album.
25:14You're quoted as saying, this is an offering for all, which you've been saying.
25:17But what are, or is the main takeaway, another main takeaway that you want, you hope listeners
25:22will embrace, those who it may concern, who, what do you want them to take away from this
25:28album?
25:29Again, it's like when you make a meal and somebody goes, Maisel, you know, it's like,
25:35it's, and somebody else says, oh, man, whoo, you know what I mean?
25:40Like, it's that for everyone else.
25:43And I'm happy for all of the sincere reactions.
25:46If it was one thing, if it was one thing, I would love for people to sincerely have personal
25:56revolutions.
25:57Revolutions take heart.
26:00They take intention.
26:03They take warriors around you.
26:06They take integrity.
26:08Damn it.
26:09Damn it.
26:10But they do.
26:11And I want people that are willing to fight for their personal revolution.
26:16I think it's really important.
26:19And then I'm going to catch you.
26:22I'll be, I'll be here.
26:23I'll be right here.
26:24For me, I think it's, it's also connection because you just, in this AI world and digital
26:30this and digital that and whatever, I just think people really, this is such, this album
26:35is such sustenance, I think.
26:37Oh, you're saying the words.
26:38I want to hear you talking about food.
26:42You said sustenance.
26:43And something real, you know, something real.
26:46So looking back at your creative life, at your creative and life journey, what would
26:50today's Jill Scott say to 2000 newcomer, newcomer, Jilly from Philly?
26:56Trust the process.
26:57Okay.
26:57Trust.
26:58You don't know anything.
26:59You know nothing.
27:02Just trust that you'll be shown.
27:05And then go.
27:06You know, I would say the same, I would say that to me.
27:09Okay.
27:10Like, don't worry, Buki.
27:11You know, just trust the process.
27:13I love you.
27:14Okay.
27:15I'll see you.
27:17And what's something new you learned about yourself in recording this album?
27:21That I am quite a boss.
27:27Okay.
27:28You didn't know that before?
27:29You had doubts?
27:30I used to manage French Connection back in the day.
27:32Right.
27:33And my girlfriend told me, she was like, you are a terrible boss.
27:40You're terrible.
27:41And I didn't, I don't want to be that, you know, so all, it's taken the years to learn.
27:46Okay.
27:46And I'm still, you know, there's still some things, but I like how I have been fair to
27:54myself in every relationship that I have in my business with my producers.
27:58Like, I hear you, I know you think that's right, and I see why you think it, but it's a different
28:05feeling.
28:06I need you to conjure a different angle.
28:09And when we find it, everybody says, yes.
28:12And I, and then I'm like, I know it, you know, I, I, I have that and I am a little more brave
28:19about being a boss and being okay with, with that.
28:24Because, you know, sometimes, um, even a successful release, um, a successful job title can make
28:31you a little, um, id driven.
28:34I don't want that.
28:35I don't think I'm going to be able to keep like good, solid people around me if I'm an
28:39asshole.
28:40Right.
28:40So, you know, I try to find as many ways as possible to explain what I'm looking for.
28:46And if they can't find it after a while, respectfully, I move on.
28:51Okay.
28:51It is, it's like, it, it, I'm good with it.
28:55I got to tell you, I'm a law and order freak.
28:58Law and order is for you.
28:59And that episode you did every time it comes on, I DVR it.
29:03And I just want to punch you in the face every time because you're such a meanie in it.
29:07But I loved it, by the way.
29:09Yeah, exactly.
29:10It was a lot of fun.
29:10You did a hell of a job.
29:11I loved it.
29:12Um, any hints about why did I get married again?
29:15It's coming.
29:16It's coming.
29:16Mm-hmm.
29:17Okay.
29:17Production is starting.
29:18That's what I read.
29:19I don't know.
29:20You can't say or.
29:22I know that it's coming.
29:23And you know it's coming.
29:24Yeah, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't say anything until I got permission.
29:27So anything I haven't asked you that you want fans and new fans out there to know about?
29:32I'll be going on tour.
29:33Exactly.
29:33So right now it's the, I'm sharing the album and letting you all marinate with it.
29:39Um, it's good.
29:40I promise you it's different every time you listen to it.
29:42Every time you're going to find, hear, think something else, which I'm very excited for.
29:48And then I will tour with it.
29:51That's what I was thinking about, too, listening to the album.
29:54It's going to take more listens because there's just so much there.
29:57And I just know each time, which is, as you said earlier, albums are a good way to tell stories, a complete story.
30:04And I just know there's different nuances of things I'm going to hear each time and go, oh, I didn't catch that before.
30:10Mm-hmm.
30:10Jill is sly and shrewd.
30:12She's got me.
30:13But thank you so much for sitting down with Billboard in Conversation.
30:17I loved it.
30:17Welcome back.
30:19Okay.
30:19I love the hair, Gail.
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