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''Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2'' is the second studio album (third overall) by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Jill Scott, released in the United States on August 31, 2004, by Hidden Beach Recordings. It entered the charts at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number one on the ''Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with first-week sales of 193,000 copies, earning Scott her first number-one album. Also, the song "Cross My Mind" brought Scott her first Grammy Award, under the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category in 2005.

"Golden" appears in the films ''Beauty Shop'' (2005) and ''Obsessed'' (2009), as well as on ''Grand Theft Auto IVs fictional soul/R&B radio station The Vibe 98.8. - Wikipedia

"Doesn't the video for ""Golden"" ruin the song? Coming after Donald Byrd's ""(Fallin' Like) Dominoes"" on my local quiet storm radio station, the lead single from Jill Scott's second studio album could be a lost, timeless disco hit-it has that upbeat '70s melancholia, a little of the old sly militancy too. But Scott is no mere vessel for producers, and her voice has the edgy conviction of the recently self-convinced: when she sings, ""I'm taking my freedom/ Putting it on my chain/ Wearing it round my neck,"" it's as if she had just decided not to pawn it for actual gold.

In the video, of course, she's all smiles: her freedom could be a tampon. But loving Jilly from Philly means hearing that secret frown in the happy authority of her singing, the elusive power that she falls back on, lacking Mary J. Blige's back-row empathy or Erykah Badu's forceful individuality. Scott is more assured than either when it comes to playing with words, too-though she thankfully no longer feels the need to recite them as poetry. With ""Golden"" (co-written by producer Anthony ""Ant"" Bell), she has spun the catchiest pop anthem in two years that doesn't sample the Chi-Lites-and from the simplest handful of repeated phrases. After a few jazz digressions and tinkly ballads, when the album begins to feel like the delivery system for the single that it is, Scott's assured, understated gags keep your attention: ""I'm truly sorry, baby, for what I did to you,"" she exhales on the otherwise middling ""Can't Explain."" ""While you were busy loving me, I was busy, too.""

She probably smiles all the time in concert and on video because that's what comes naturally, and she's old-fashioned that way. But there's nothing oldie about the way Jill Scott goofs with your expectations. What's cool about the monogamous brag of ""Bedda At Home"" is that her unfaithful desire is palpable, even as she enjoys deriding her would-be beefcake-on-the-side. When the sweet strummy jazz of ""My Petition"" modulates slightly and reveals itself not as a lover's quarrel, but as a citizen's protest, you realize with a wince that she has snuck goddamned George W. Bush in through Tyrone's kitchen. But these smarts are the admirable corollary to the serious depresso-jazz production that has always defined ""neo-soul."" Remember, the sound that is so often called ""traditionalist"" was created by one weird rap DJ/producer (Ali Shaheed Muhammad doing D'Angelo) and perfected by another (DJ Jazzy Jeff doing Scott's own debut album). What Jill Scott has achieved with Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, however uneven the results, is to take a genre by and for aesthetes, and make smarts accessible to people who wouldn't know D'Angelo from Beverly D'Angelo. She's treating her life like it's platinum, too.

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