Victoria Monét’s ‘Frequency of Love’ Merges R&B With Culinary Training

Victoria Monét releases her 22-track album “Frequency of Love” on Friday, a project that directly reflects her recent completion of culinary school and marks a deliberate pivot from the commercial pressures following her 2024 Best New Artist Grammy win. The record moves beyond the yacht rock concept she initially envisioned, incorporating acoustic folk-soul, dance music, and midcentury standards alongside contemporary R&B to explore the complexities of romance and personal fulfillment.

Monét graduated in May from the Institute of Culinary Education in Pasadena after completing an externship at Verse L.A., a Toluca Lake supper club owned by mixing engineer Manny Marroquin. She balanced early morning prep shifts with rehearsals for Bruno Mars’ European stadium tour, using the rigorous kitchen environment to reset her creative process. This dual focus influenced the album’s production; Marroquin mixed “Frequency of Love” while Monét worked at his restaurant, and she integrated culinary rhythms into studio sessions, even baking cookies for collaborators and naming engineers after dishes like soufflé.

The expanded sonic palette emerged from this immersive period rather than a predetermined genre study. While Monét originally planned a yacht rock tribute inspired by Toto and the musicians behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” her listening habits evolved alongside her cooking curriculum. Pasta days paired with Italian music and Jamaican cooking sessions with reggae broadened the album’s scope, resulting in collaborations with producers Camper, D’Mile, and Kaytranada, plus guest features from SZA, Leon Thomas, and Lucky Daye.

“Frequency of Love” serves as the true successor to 2023’s “Jaguar II,” correcting what Monét views as a misstep in her previous release cycle. RCA issued a deluxe edition of “Jaguar II” in October 2024, which she felt diluted the artistic statement that culminated with her Grammy recognition. She withheld the single “Reach Out” from that package specifically to anchor the new album, releasing it instead as a lead single accompanied by a video filmed at La Jolla’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Track highlights demonstrate this thematic and stylistic range. “You Hurt Me Too” adopts the dark glamour of a James Bond theme, while “Juicy” retains funk elements from her initial yacht rock exploration. “Come Back to You” samples the Isley Brothers’ “Voyage to Atlantis,” and the album includes a rendition of “Somebody,” a standard popularized by Dorothy Dandridge in the HBO film “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.” Monét’s daughter Hazel, who became the youngest Grammy nominee in history at age two, also makes a vocal cameo on the new record.

Monét will support the album with a headlining tour running through December, including a scheduled performance at Inglewood’s YouTube Theater on Dec. 8. Her culinary credentials remain active alongside her music career; she continues to share cooking content via her “Saucy Sundéts” Instagram series and has expressed interest in potentially developing a consumer food brand, though no specific retail partnerships have been announced.