At her Los Angeles home, Victoria Monét sits perched on the edge of her off-white couch, enjoying the stillness in the moments leading up to her sophomore album, “Frequency of Love,” dropping in less than 48 hours. A lit candle with three wicks burns in front of her as she gazes at the open-format living room abutting a kitchen fit for a Michelin chef. Just next to it is a shelf proudly displaying her three Grammys, including the one she won for best new artist in 2024, the culmination of over a decade’s worth of hard work and, above all, determination.
The 37-year-old, clad in a white tank top, loose gray sweatpants and white gym socks, looks back on the years that went into building the home to her liking. Two years ago — just a month before she became the biggest story out of music’s biggest night — the floor was covered in brown construction paper, and a towering scaffold reached towards the ceiling. Today, it’s an oasis that radiates warmth, all soft browns and tans with an infinity pool that glistens in the backyard.
Up until now, Monét has taken a more patient approach to her career, a testament to the power of playing the long game. She started pursuing her dream of being a solo act as far back as 2009, when she first moved to Los Angeles, but gradually rose to prominence as a songwriter for others, including Ariana Grande and Fifth Harmony. It wasn’t until 2023’s “Jaguar II,” her debut album, that she finally hit her stride, armed with a sound descended from smoky ’70s soul and a fully formed vision to match.
With “Frequency of Love,” she took her time, too. Instead of striking while the Grammy iron was hot, she settled into home life, raising her daughter Hazel as a single parent and going on “side quests,” which included graduating from culinary school this past May and publishing the children’s picture book “Everywhere You Are,” a New York Times bestseller. She had also been battling vocal issues that changed the sound and shape of her tenor, complicating the recording process.
Today, though, the pace is unusually more hurried as she’s focused on fine-tuning “Frequency of Love” until the last possible moment, ensuring that the devil is truly in the details. The project is predicated on the theme that the title suggests — love of self, love of others, love for her daughter Hazel — while embracing a swath of styles spanning quiet storm to smooth, finger-snapped R&B. Monét explains that the album “picks up where we left off publicly,” referencing when she walked the Grammy carpet in 2024 with Hazel, who was then only three years old, along with Hazel’s father.
The pressure, the separation… I already have a love of my life, notwithstanding the relationship not working out.” What follows is a mix of songs dedicated to Hazel and her experience venturing back into the dating pool while balancing work. She rounds out the world with a robust slate of guests including Bruno Mars, SZA, Lucky Daye, Bryson Tiller, Chloe and Leon Thomas, plus her mother, cousin and aunt alongside the Sunday Service Choir (“No Love Like Yours (Interlude)”). It’s a step beyond the velvet-lined core of “Jaguar II,” trying on different musical outfits to reach a fresh new endpoint.
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