“It was really more about authenticity,” Victoria Monét says about the duration between now and her previous release. “I wanted to take time to live in between the album so I can write from a place of experience versus a place of imagination.”

To say that 2023 was a big one for the acclaimed singer-songwriter would be selling things a bit short. In August, Monét released JAGUAR II, her debut studio album, following an extensive run writing for some of the best artists in the business. While she led the project with the Lucky Daye-assisted “Smoke,” then “Party Girls” a few months later, its third single, “On My Mama,” would take her to the stratosphere—and it’s been up ever since. JAGUAR II earned six nominations at the 66th Grammy ceremony (winning two awards alongside her individual win for Best New Artist), and opened Monét up to an endless list of possibilities. She became the darling of the entertainment industry and even more in demand than she already was. So, with Grammy gold on the shelf and the world in the palm of her hands, where does Victoria Monét go from here?

“Well, I wanted to make sure that I went away and set my intentions correctly,” Monét explains her mindset following the enthusiastic response to her first album. The attention gave her plenty of reasons to keep putting music out, but she took time to consider what she wanted to say next. Repeating a tried-and-true formula held less appeal than making a record reflecting who she had become. “After a successful album, it’s easy to fall into the trap of making things that appease other people or trying to study what they may have fallen in love with about what was successful and trying to repeat that cycle; I just didn’t want to do that,” she says.

Enter Frequency Of Love, a 22-track effort drawn from Monét’s experiences post-2023. She reunites with longtime producer D’Mile (a person Victoria describes as “an angel in my life on this earth”), with SZA and Chlöe Bailey joining an album that also features Bryson Tiller and Leon Thomas. Daye returns as a collaborator, while her five-year-old daughter, Hazel Monét, also makes an appearance of her own. The music stretches into house and draws from gospel, keeping R&B as its foundation while exploring family bonds alongside romantic desire. Love becomes a way to consider how she treats herself, too, and what she has to give to others.

“I felt like [Frequency Of Love] is a really great name for this chapter of my life,” Monét notes. “It’s also a theory that I want to bring into the rest of my life.” The idea grew out of listening to different sounds at bedtime, a practice that helped her relax. She applies the same principle to her daily life, choosing what she gives her attention to and what she lets pass.

“When I think of frequencies, I think of radio stations, and not being able to hear anything unless you’re tuned into that channel,” she says. “So any negativity, any doubts, any thoughts that are crossing your mind, you wouldn’t be able to absorb them if you’re not on that frequency. So the world operating on the frequency of love, I think that we would just reflect more of what we’re sending out, and that’s an important thing for me to carry.”

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Although Monét hasn’t released a full-length project in some time, she has spent the past few years investing in her most important project yet: herself. In 2025, the singer took on one of her self-proclaimed “50 side quests,” graduating from the Institute of Culinary Education with highest honors in plant-based culinary arts. Learning something new gave her time to consider what she needed for herself and what she could offer the people she loves.

“Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been getting more into my meditative practices—Tai Chi, Qigong and of course culinary school,” she says. “It all felt like modalities for self-love, but also being able to show up as the best version of myself so that whenever I show up, it’s from a place of fullness.”

Fullness was also a fitting way to describe her plate after graduation. About a month later, Monét joined Bruno Mars on his The Romantic Tour, taking her music to cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid and Toronto while building anticipation for her sophomore album. The opportunity was one she had already imagined for herself. (She literally manifested going on the road with the “24K Magic” singer long before it came to fruition. Crazy, right?) Getting there meant believing it could happen, then having the patience to let reality catch up.

“I feel like whatever you put out into the world that you say you want to do, it’s about time and space to bring it to yourself,” Monét says to me before a brief but reflective pause. “If you’re willing to go through that lapse of instant gratification, then you can sustain the energy that you deserve, and anything can come true.”

Victoria and Bruno’s connection extended past their tour run, and into one of the most anticipated records on Frequency Of Love; their duet titled “That’s Why I Love You.” The impetus for the song began with Camper, the album’s executive producer, watching the Kevin James film Solo Mio, where a recording by Italian singer Bruno Lauzi caught his attention. “When I first heard it, it blew me away,” he told me over the phone. “I don’t usually sample, but I thought to myself: I have to see what’s going on with this.”

Camper built a beat around the sample and later played it for Monét during a session where SZA was also present. “Immediately, they both had ideas. They’re going back and forth, SZA and Victoria,” he recalls. The two began writing together, with Monét completing the verse and chorus before eventually approaching Mars about joining the record.

“They talked about it and [Bruno] loved it right away,” Camper adds. Monét and Mars recorded the vocals while the producer was attending his cousin’s funeral, and hearing the result brought him to tears. “When they played it back for me, I couldn’t believe it, because I knew how big the song was before Bruno got on it,” he says. “But the way it happened was just so special. I’m happy that all pieces came together, and obviously it was ordained in the right timing, and the right alignment. I couldn’t wait for the world to hear it.”

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If you asked me, the rollout for Frequency of Love has been a true masterclass in promotion. In classic Victoria fashion, the entertainer gave fans a direct line to her through the album’s Frequency Of Love hotline, where they could call in for a chance to speak with her. She first tried the idea during her Life After Love era, using an extra phone to exchange text messages with fans when she wasn’t yet touring regularly. This time, an app helped her manage the hotline and answer calls herself.

“I really wish I could have a conversation with each fan,” Monét says. “With this, it builds more community and more connection with me and the people who are supporting me.” And if a conversation wasn’t enough, she gave the people cookies, too. Monét put that culinary degree to use with Sweet Monét’s, a cookie truck pop-up in Los Angeles that she announced a few days ago; fans will also get a chance to see her on the road when her Frequency Of Love Tour opens October 27 at Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater. 

As far as the music goes, Monét shared “Let Me” and, most recently, “Juicy,” ahead of the album’s release, but the video for “Reach Out” gave her an opportunity to introduce listeners to something really special. She filmed it at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, where scientists study cancer and how the brain works, among other areas of research. Monét was first drawn to the location’s architecture, but learning about its work in disease prevention and healthy aging gave her another reason to get her crew to Southern California. “When I found out what they actually do there, it made it even more valuable and an absolute yes,” she says.

Renting the location offered a way to support that research, and Monét hoped that showing it to fans would encourage them to get involved. “It was really important to me to share that, especially with the song being called ’Reach Out,’” she says. “It’s like you want to reach out to people who are making a difference in the world, and that’s one of those places that you just don’t forget that.”

As introspective as she is, Monét can tell you what went into any of her songs, but what you take from them is yours. A record written about her life might help someone make sense of their own, even if their circumstances look nothing alike—the possibility matters to her as much as the reception. “[My music] is not just for me and the compliments or gratification that I may get from people if they like the work,” she states.

“It’s more about the self-reflection of each listener and finding the song that they feel tethered to and seeing what it reveals about themself and seeing what frequency they can adapt to, to be more loving, more caring, and more powerful for the right reasons,” Monét continues. “And hopefully some of the things that I’ve done in the album musically can just open people’s minds up a little bit more.”

Read the original article on Essence.