And, breathe.

Jill Scott is finally back, marking her return with To Whom This May Concern, her sixth studio album and first in more than a decade.

The three-time Grammy Award-winning R&B star gave long-suffering fans the news they’d been waiting for, the announcement of new music, by way of a social post on Jan. 2.

That day has arrived, as To Whom This May Concern drops independently through her own Blues Babe imprint, with distribution through Human Re Sources/The Orchard. It’s the follow-up to Woman, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 way back in 2015.

“I did not have a creative block,” she tells Billboard’s Gail Mitchell, explaining her absence from the spotlight. “I just took a creative break. [The creative is] always there. It’s the energy that follows me around the house: in the shower, when I’m cleaning, making a bed. But I needed to take a break from that so that I could live life. I am, you know, a human being. So of course, there’s all kinds of stuff like perimenopause. That’s interesting. I have a teenager now; that’s different than ever before.”

To Whom This May Concern arrives just in time Valentine’s Day, and is stacked with guest spots, including appearances from Ab-Soul, J.I.D., Tierra Whack, and Too $hort, and production from Adam Blackstone, Om’Mas Keith, DJ Premier, Camper, Andre Harris, Seige Monstracity, Trombone Shorty, Eric Wortham, DW Wright, and VT Tolan.

“I really don’t think you can create without having the balance between the two,” Scott continues in her conversation with Billboard. “It’s important to one, connect with yourself, remember who you are. Like I tell my folk, ‘Jill Scott doesn’t live in my house.’ Nobody calls me that in my house. There’s a separation so that I can fill her up. And that’s me. I have to fill me up so I can fill Jill Scott.”

Scott has landed eight titles on the Billboard 200, including four top 10s and two leaders, with Woman and The Light of the Sun (from 2011), both of which topped the all-genres albums chart for a week.

Stream all 19 tracks of To Whom This May Concern below.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

This week, Charli xcx releases her anticipated project Wuthering Heights, written for the Emerald Fennell-directed film of the same name (also in theaters today); MUNA announced its fourth album, Dancing On The Wall, out May 8, and released its title track; and ahead of Flea’s upcoming instrumental solo album, he shared his take on a Frank Ocean classic.

Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Charli XCX, Wuthering Heights

After previewing the album (and sonic direction of the film) with “House” and “Chains of Love” last November, Charli xcx released “Wall of Sound” in January. Today, with the release of her Wuthering Heights album as the buzzy movie hits theaters, Charli’s cinematic and airy “Always Everywhere” is receiving prime playlist placement. As she shared in a press release in November, director Emerald Fennell called her during Christmas 2024 asking whether she would write a song for the film. “I read the script and immediately felt inspired,” wrote Charli. “After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite.”

MUNA, “Dancing On The Wall”

Pop trio MUNA returns this week with the title track off its upcoming fourth album — and as the band does best, the single balances a devastating sentiment with irresistibly uptempo production, bound together by Katie Gavin’s singular voice. The band revealed in a statement that “Dancing On The Wall” is “possibly our favorite song we’ve made as a band…it’s all the best parts of MUNA.” The track was produced by member Naomi McPherson.

Bleachers, “You and Forever”

Bleachers released its self-titled album in March 2024; two years later, the band has announced its upcoming fifth album, Everyone for Ten Minutes, out May 22. Led by single “You and Forever” — written and produced by founding member Jack Antonoff — the rock track sounds a bit inspired by The National, thanks to its deep and layered vocals that narrate a haunting side of love. As the press release teases of the album overall: “Despite moments where it briefly peers into darkness, it’s essentially an optimistic record that feels lovestruck and hopeful, leaping from harmony-laden folk rock to shimmering pop soul to the sax-assisted New Jersey sound that Bleachers have become synonymous for.”

Lykke Li, “Lucky Again”

“I’m going into my existential era,” Lykke Li shared in a statement, revealing the inspiration behind her upcoming album, The Afterparty, out May 8. “Lucky Again” offers the first glimpse into that era — and its euphoric, hopeful and a bit dizzying. “It’s samsara in a song,” the artist continued, writing of the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. “The wheel of life: winning, losing, living, dying. Having had something and praying you’ll have it again.”

Flea, “Thinkin Bout You”

After more than four decades rocking with Red Hot Chili Peppers, founding member Flea is returning to his musical roots: jazz. As Flea approached his 60th birthday (he’s now 63) he felt it was now or never and vowed to practice the trumpet every day for two years — and so he did. The result is his debut solo album, Honora, out this March. The album will include six original songs composed and arranged by Flea, alongside his interpretations of songs he loves, including Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You.” As Flea wrote in a statement: “When [Channel Orange] came out, it really blew me away. I listened to it ten million times…”Thinkin Bout You” is one of the many great songs on that record, and I thought it would be fun to play on trumpet.”

Bye-bye Brat Summer. Welcome, Wuthering Heights.

As the clock struck midnight, Charli xcx dropped her seventh and latest studio album Wuthering Heights (via Atlantic Records), written, of course, for Emerald Fennell’s dramatic feature film of the same name.

Spanning 12 tracks, “Wuthering Heights” houses the previously released “Wall Of Sound,” “Chains Of Love” and the striking opener “House,” featuring Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale. Also, Sky Ferreira guests on album track “Eyes of the World,” which samples Wolf Alice’s excellent “Don’t Delete The Kisses.”

Charli came on board the project when she got the call from Fennell at Christmas 2024. “I read the script and immediately felt inspired so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating,” she explains in a press release announcing the project. “After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite.”

That previous album was 2024’s BRAT, which peaked at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and ARIA Chart, and bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, for her highest debut in the United States. BRAT was more than a record, or a chart placement. It was a cultural moment, a seemingly inescapable meme that the Collins Dictionary dubbed its word of the year for 2024.

Charli is on fire right now, and not just in the recording space. Later this month, she’ll star in A24’s The Moment, based on her original idea and the first co-production from her new studio365 venture. Also, she’ll appear in Daniel Goldhaber’s remake of the 1978 cult horror Faces of Death, Greg Araki’s erotic thriller I Want Your Sex, Cathy Yan’s independent film The Gallerist, Julia Jackman’s period fantasy 100 Nights Of Hero, Romain Gavras’ satirical action Sacrifice and Pete Ohs’ intimate drama Erupcja.

The Wuthering Heights feature film, based on Emily Bronte’s masterpiece of Gothic romance, and starring Australian pair Margot Robbie (as Cathy) and Jacob Elordi (as Heathcliff), also arrives today, Feb. 13, in theaters via Warner Bros Pictures — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“When I think of Wuthering Heights,” says Charli of the classic novel, “I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”

Stream the album in full here.

Ye (formerly Kanye West) has yet again been sued for rapping over an allegedly unauthorized sample — this time on the Vultures 2 track “530.”

The controversial star has faced more than a dozen copyright claims throughout his career for failing to clear samples. That tally grew with a Thursday (Feb. 12) lawsuit brought by the alternative R&B artist Swsh and U.K.-based indie label Future Bounce against Ye and Ty Dolla $ign, his collaborator on the hit 2024 Vultures 2 album.

Swsh (Olivia Anne Quillin) says their 2018 song “Break the Fall” is sampled without a license on “530.” Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Swsh’s outro vocals are looped repeatedly beneath Ye’s verses throughout the first two minutes of the track.

“By exploiting Swsh’s creative output without credit or compensation, defendants usurped the commercial and artistic value of their sound recording and underlying musical composition while misrepresenting its authorship to the public,” reads the lawsuit. “This unauthorized use deprived plaintiffs of rightful sales and licensing revenue, diminished the value of their work and interfered with their ability to control how that work is experienced and perceived.”

Swsh alleges they sent demand letters to Ye’s reps about the alleged infringement soon after Vultures 2 was released, but the issue was never resolved. Even after being notified about these problems, the lawsuit claims, Ye re-released “530” on his 2025 album Donda 2, still with no sampling license in place.

“Such willful, knowing and deliberate conduct reflects a conscious decision to misappropriate plaintiffs’ intellectual property and to profit from it,” the lawsuit says.

Thursday’s lawsuit now seeks financial damages for Swsh and Future Bounce in the form of lost royalties (Swsh owns 90% of the “Break the Fall” composition rights and the entire master recording, while the label has an exclusive license to exploit the master). The complaint doesn’t request a specific dollar amount, but it notes that “530” has more than 50 million streams on Spotify alone.

In addition to naming Ye and Ty Dolla $ign (Tyrone Griffin Jr.), the lawsuit also brings federal copyright infringement claims against Ye’s in-house label YZY and the service Label Engine, which, according to Swsh, handled digital distribution for both Vultures 2 and Donda 2.

Reps for Ye, Ty Dolla $ign and Label Engine did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.

SOURCE Nashville has revealed the 2026 SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards inductees, who will be honored on Aug. 25 at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville’s historic Municipal Auditorium.

Presented by Springer Mountain Farms, this year’s ceremony will honor six women executives who have made a significant impact on the Nashville music industry. Inductees are nominated and inducted based upon peer recommendations, accomplishments, reputation, the number of years each individual has worked in the music industry and level of involvement in the community.

This year’s honorees are Debbie Cheek Carroll (licensed clinical social Worker (private practice), MusiCares, Belmont University), Paige Conners (CBS Records/Sony Music Nashville, Warner Bros. Records Nashville, Paul Worley Productions, Nashville Musicians Association, AFM Local 257), Cris Lacy (Warner Music Nashville), Margie McGahey (WSM Radio/Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Association, 101.7 The Worm), Sherry Oakley (BMI) and Carla Wallace (Big Yellow Dog).

Ticket information for the event will be announced in the coming weeks. The SOURCE Awards were launched in 2003 by founder Kay Smith, with the goal of honoring the “Women Behind The Music” who impact, influence and help shape Nashville’s music industry.

Last year’s SOURCE Hall of Fame honorees were Lori Badgett, Cheryl Harris, Gina Keltner, Pam Russell, Mary Self and Kay West.

Founded in 1991 by Shelia Shipley Biddy, Judy Harris and Pat Rolfe, SOURCE is the longest-running organization for women in the Nashville music industry. It works to cultivate relationships and opportunities for SOURCE members through networking, continuous education and community service.