Le Boom Vent Suite: Rebirth Through Desire, Release, and Emotional Truth
INTRODUCING: Jill Scott - Le Boom Vent Suite
Have you never heard a Jill Scott song? She has to be one of the most prolific storytelling songwriters of our time. This is especially true in the neo-soul and RNB world. She has an unusual knack and knowledge of bringing the emotions out of song while aligning them with the real-life scenarios we face. Not just the storybook, happy-ending songs we typically hear, but the actual day-to-day ups and downs and relationships that end badly. Arguably my favorite song, Le Boom Vent Suite, is the one that placed her on the Mount Rushmore of lyrical, vocal artists. This song is an eruption and a confession. It is a poem sensually wrapped in the jazz of relationships. It moves through phases like a lunar cycle. Feeling the pains of longing and desire and release and reflection, she takes us through a scene from a romantic relationship disguising it like we are on a spiritual journey.
Kind Rebirths are not limited to spiritual and mental transformation. It is a journey of the emotion. As such, powerful songs like these and many others are integral reminders of the intimate moments we hold dear. And they are held close to us because they carry the lessons, the awakenings, and the invitations into the versions of ourselves that are buried deep.
What makes this song amazing on another level is the mid-song transition. From the beginning, Jill’s voice exclaiming “Boom, boom, boom” feels like the closeness from the warm skin of our romantic partner. She sings with a desire that never loses power and withholding something more profound – the way we remember things before we attach a label to it.
For me, it evoked a feeling that desire isn’t always just a painful, every-increasing hunger. It’s also built with honesty. It’s the honesty of thirsting for connection but not wanting to give that vulnerability to just anyone undeserving. It’s a kind of mirror reflecting our emotion. And Jill, in all of her unfiltered defenselessness, gives in. And the choice she made to give in created a rebirth demonstrating that her body is not separate from her spirit. Every choice we make is built on some form of intention, whether good or bad (no judgement), but we make it and face whatever consequences that come with it. Life again is to be experienced. Don’t be scared to make the wrong decision. There is a network of discovery that lies behind any decision. Just be mindful while you’re deciding.
The Release and the Reckoning
As the song begins to shift, Jill’s voice transforms into a meditative vocal airing. Unleashing her sexual appetite and aptitude, she is promoting her feminine freedom. She stops performing on this track and simply becomes it. Her rebirth transcends this plane when she stops pretending to simply exist with her mate, she just wants to feel, allowing her soul to exhale. And the piece de resistance is an exclamation of her exhaustion of carrying the world and all its problems and just wanting a break. I think we have all felt some form of this:
“I can’t take all of this without loving
Tired of being strong all day,
I need to get to know you in a familiar way.”
There’s the everyday, familiarity in real terms and it’s magic.
As the song leads up to its climax, she brings us home to a quiet period of rest. It’s the time for contemplation. It’s the aftermath once the fire is put out and smoke clears, “I’m looking for the king in you. Let me see it soon.” After the desire has burned its course, it’s there where you meet yourself again, breath by breath, one moment after another. The body is the portal, and it wants you to be driven to compassion and intimacy without severing any connections with our spirit. It’s okay to seek pleasure. Let it be healing and transformative.
I found in this song the permission to feel what I want to feel honestly and without apology. It is a reminder that your rebirth may come with a need to offer a surrender. Rebirth can come as a Boom, unexpected but necessary. Live fully.
Stay mindful…
Rebirth
