Lauryn Hill is "getting closer" to releasing a new album, she said this weekend. At one of her first American gigs in years, the ex-Fugees singer said she is "excited about what the future holds". Twelve years after the release of her first – and only – solo studio album, "it's time", she said.
Hill played all four dates of this summer's Rock the Bells festival tour, performing a mix of tracks from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Fugees songs. Performing alongside guests such as Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z and Mary J Blige – not to mention Hill's children – she brought a new, "jazz-like" approach to much of the old material.
"I have to upgrade [songs] a bit so that they're still exciting, fresh and new," Hill told MTV News. "I'm not sure if the audience really understands. We need, or at least I need, a certain amount of spontaneity, a certain amount of improvisation at every show ... It's that unknown, that literal X factor that makes every show different, and something I want to continue to do."
Hill's use of the word "continue" shouldn't be taken for granted. She disappeared for much of the past decade, retiring into the arms of her family. Although she has played sporadic concerts, a European tour was cancelled in 2009 due to "health reasons".
"There's been such a long period of time where I haven't been able to communicate where my mind is, where my consciousness is, where my ideas are," she explained. "This is an athletic discipline. You gotta be in shape to do it mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically. But it's time."
