It's been four long years since Jill Scott came out of nowhere and shocked the R&B world with her brilliant debut album Who Is Jill Scott? But since then the question has virtually turned into where the HELL is Jill Scott? In 2001 she released the ultimately forgettable live album Experience: Jill Scott 826, which also harbored a bonus disc of new tracks that were similarly forgettable. Beautifully Human though is finally a follow-up worth caring about. While it's not quite the revelation that Who Is Jill Scott? was, it still has some fantastic moments.

"Golden" is the perfect choice for a first single, because honestly, there isn't much else here that would find a home on radio or the VH1 rotation (MTV wouldn't even know what to do with something of this caliber, the morons.) The rest of Beautifully Human is pure poetic soul music (Joss Stone ain't got nothin' on this you VH1'ers). On the wonderful "Family Reunion," Scott sings of, you guessed it, a family reunion, but the subject matter is more than just fluff. "Grandma braggin' bout the blanket she made for the new baby on the way, even though the daddy ain't really ready, this child is comin' anyway." The sultry "Bedda At Home"finds Scott fawning all over a fine specimen that she meets away from the nest, but Scott wises up and enlightens the swooning Romeo with the line "You're the kind that stays on a sista's mind. And I know you'll think this is crazy, but I got something better at home. He's the kind that breaks it down and curls my toes."

Scott, along with Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu (my personal favorite out of the bunch) seem to (thankfully) be steering R&B/Soul music back in a respectable direction that the likes of Mary J. Blige and R. Kelly have been shitting on for years. Beautifully Human is definitely a worthwhile addition to a catalog by an artist who is quickly becoming an essential voice in music.