MC's Music Lounge: Jill Scott adds sunshine to the cold winter days ahead with new music

The new year has arrived and new music is rolling out in full force including the comeback of an R&B giant. Jill Scott first burst onto the scene in 2000 with her iconic album Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1 which helped usher in a new sound to the genre and was followed by two more volumes. Now, more than ten years since her last record, she is back and ready to gift us with some new tunes that are sure to add some sunshine to the cold winter days ahead.

There’s something grounding about a new Jill Scott recording arriving at this moment. Rather than being a disrupter in the music industry, her music feels like a comfort. Jilly from Philly (as Beyoncé lovingly referred to her as in the “Queens Remix” of “Break My Soul”) has always sung from her soul, using lived experience and emotional intelligence to get her message across. That’s what the genre is about, not chasing algorithms and playlist adds, but instead it’s music that is rooted in the church, poetry slams and late-night conversations that turn into confessions. Jill’s type of R&B has always been somewhat confessional while still introspective and adoringly positive. Her music has served as inspiration to countless artists throughout the last 25 years, and her Verzuz battle with Erykah Badu back in 2020 was a prime example of that. Rihanna, Adele and Christina Aguilera were just some of the names who were in the comments gagging over the two ladies. Christina in particular has been open about how Jill’s first album was a key influence for her 2002 Stripped album. Just take a listen to “Lovin’ Me 4 Me” and tell me that doesn’t have Jill Scott’s “A Long Walk” written all over it. Two and a half decades later, Jill still has that same joy in her music and her latest single “Beautiful People” continues her legacy of inspiring generations of singers. Now, we just need that new Erykah Badu record to arrive because if Jill can come back after a decade, nothing should be stopping my girl from doing the same.

Next week, Gen Alpha is getting a treat as The Kid LAROI is releasing his new album which is expected to include a multitude of tracks about his breakup with Tate McRae. Whether anyone over 15 years old will be able to enjoy the music is another question. This week along with new music from Jill Scott we have new releases by Doechii and SZA, Nick Jonas, KATSEYE, Geolier and 50 Cent, plus a viral pick from Djo.

Listen on…

MC’s PICKS OF THE WEEK

“Beautiful People” by Jill Scott

For her first musical release in over a decade, Jill Scott is keeping things light and free with the breezy new single “Beautiful People”. The single highlights the different people in all shapes and sizes that hold a special place in her world, the ones who make her want to “shine in the night like a star”. Her brand of neo-soul has been integral to R&B over the last 25 years, and with this new music she is showing that the time away from the studio hasn’t left her rusty in the least. She’s got just the same amount of shine that she did when she was living life like it’s golden. The melody has a 70s Marvin Gaye quality to it while still keeping her individuality like only Jilly from Philly could do. I’ve always felt like Jill’s music is a form of medicine for the soul, you can’t possibly be in a bad mood when you hear it and it almost certainly will lift you up even if just for the 3:48 duration of the track. “Beautiful People” is the first single from Jill’s upcoming sixth studio album To Whom This May Concern which drops on February 13^th, just in time for Valentine’s Day for all the lovers out there. She also just completed filming Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Again?, the third film in the Why Did I Get Married? franchise where she reprises her role as Sheila. The film is expected to come to Netflix later this year and majority of its original cast is returning with the exception of queen Janet Jackson, but it seems that Jill is ready to hold the baton as the triple threat of the cast. New music and a new film means it’ll be a great 2026 for Jill Scott and all her fans.

“girl, get up.” by Doechii, SZA

2025 was a huge year for Doechii and was the first time that many of the general public heard of her. For those who didn’t know her before her career-defining Grammy’s performance, it seemed like she was an overnight success and many critics and trolls online began accusing her of being an “industry plant”. I never found any validity in those accusations because for those of us who have been Swamp members (Doechii’s fan base name), we know that our girl has been grinding non-stop for years. Just because you weren’t around for the journey doesn’t mean that it wasn’t real, there’s a whole culture of people who believe history only begins once they become aware of something. Life doesn’t work that way obviously, but to me it isn’t even worth acknowledging such wild claims. Doechii however is using this new song to do just that as she raps “All that industry plant sh-t wack, I see it on the blogs, I see it on the chats” and my personal favourite line “Y’all can’t fathom that I worked this hard, y’all can’t fathom that I earned this chart”. She fought and believed her way to the top of the charts, and some people just can’t accept that. That’s how you know you truly won anyway, once the trolls start attempting to come for you. SZA’s verse adds a dreamy tone to the already vibey song, and makes for the perfect bridge between Doechii’s previous mixtape and her long-anticipated official debut album which she is in the studio creating as we speak.

“Gut Punch” by Nick Jonas

I wasn’t expecting to like this one, but the minute I heard the grand chorus I was sold. The melody is eerily similar to Shontelle’s 2010 smash hit ballad “Impossible” which was a ninth grade staple for me. Nothing gets my 30-year-old ass going like a high school throwback tune. The song is an emotional one for Nick asking himself questions about his status as a good father and husband, and perhaps most importantly, his relationship with himself. We spend so much time being critical of our actions, when the truth is that if we gave ourselves a bit more grace, our day-to-day lives could be that much more peaceful. Nick first announced the single during his “Sunday Best Brunch” event in Toronto back in December, and the album which is appropriately titled Sunday Best is due on February 6^th. It’s his fifth solo album, and first in five years. He and his brothers spent the better half of 2025 on the road performing in stadiums around the world, but he clearly never lost the itch for solo success that he first truly achieved back in 2014 with his top 10 hit “Jealous”, a banger that I still bump to this day. If the rest of the album is anything like the first single, then expect an album filled with tracks perfectly curated for Adult Contemporary radio stations and hospital waiting rooms – don’t pretend like you don’t love it.

“Internet Girl” by KATSEYE

KATSEYE have been on the rise for over a year now, closing off 2025 with a sold out tour that had them going viral every other day for their killer choreography and infectious stage presence. “Internet Girl” was one of the songs they performed and premiered on the tour, and now they are starting 2026 off by releasing the studio version. It’s currently sitting pretty at #1 on YouTube’s music trending chart, so clearly the fans are eating it up. I keep going back and forth with this group because on one hand I am obsessed with their look and the image they project, but on the other, I find the music to be a tad… brain-rotted. Having said this, get a few tequila shots in me and all of a sudden I’m repeating “eat zucchini” like it’s a manifestation mantra. I guess that means that no matter what my jaded millennial ass might think, I’m loving all that KATSEYE is giving, LOL! The general public’s thirst for an iconic girl group is clearly alive and well, and it seems that these girls are only just getting started on their climb to the top.

“PHANTOM” by Geolier, 50 Cent

Geolier was the most streamed artist in Italy last year, but despite his Italian roots, he actually raps in Rione Gescal, his native dialect. It’s the language spoken in the Italian musical scene he grew up in and now he’s taking it on a global scale by linking up with 50 Cent for a collaboration with a music video filmed on the hot streets of Miami. In a recent interview with Billboard, Geolier talks about his love of hip-hop but how the only rap songs he’d hear in Italian clubs growing up were 50 Cent hits like “In Da Club”, making this link-up a dream for him. Lucky for Geolier, the king of petty is on a renaissance tour of sorts after the success of the Diddy documentary, so he got his wish of working with him. 50’s verse is smooth and shows that he’s still got that same cadence in his raps and the same flow that made him an international star. This track is my own personal first foray into the world of Italian rap, and it’s definitely a fun listen. Is it groundbreaking? No, but again it’s fun and in 2026, that’s really all I need.

MC’s VIRAL PICK

“End of Beginning” by Djo

This one’s for all the Stranger Things fans, and if you haven’t watched the series finale yet, maybe just skip this one right on over. “End of Beginning” by Djo first went viral in early 2024, which is when the mass public first realized that our very own Steve Harrington (played by Joe Keery) is a f-cking rock star in real life. “End of Beginning” is simply just an incredible piece of music from his haunting vocals to the heartwarming lyrics about returning to one’s roots.

It makes perfect sense now that the song has gone viral once again with fan theories and critiques of the series finale of the show making the rounds online. One of the main ones is fans wishing that this song was used as the final song of the series in the final scene. Fans are so keen on the idea that they’ve gone so far as to edit in the song into the final scene of the series where Finn Wolfhard’s character Mike closes the basement door after watching his little sister and her friends begin their own D&D tribe. At the time of writing, the song is #2 on Spotify’s global streams chart only behind Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” and is expected to keep on growing in popularity as more and more people say goodbye to the upside down. During the song’s first run back in 2024, it managed to reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, but don’t be surprised if the track out peaks itself in the coming weeks.

@lattesflm end of beginning🥹 série:Stranger Things música:end of beginning-djo #strangerthings #Nostalgia #lyricsedit #edit #fyp ♬ som original - ka

@jaxkxmo It would’ve been so much better😭😭#djo #strangerthings5 #fypp #endofbeginning ♬ original sound - jaxk

@commonrevolt As Stranger Things ends, Djo’s song “End of Beginning” is having another unexpected viral moment. The parallels between Joe Keery and Steve Harrington are very real. And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it… #djo #strangerthings5 #joekeery #endofbeginning #strangerthings ♬ original sound - Common Revolt

@mcasdroxzlive NOW ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/X2Nd1HNpkZk?feature=shared #strangerthings #joekeery #steveharrington #djo #end ♬ End of Beginning - Djo

It’s a new year which means a new “MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE” Spotify playlist is officially live. You can add it here to keep up to date with my weekly picks throughout the year.