Victoria Monét drops 'Frequency of Love' tomorrow with Bruno Mars, SZA, and a lot riding on it
Three years after 'Jaguar II' made her a Grammy darling, the R&B singer's 22-track sophomore album arrives October 2 with a star-studded feature list and a 27-date North American tour already locked in.
In brief
Victoria Monét drops 'Frequency of Love' tomorrow with Bruno Mars, SZA, and a lot riding on it
Three years is a long time in R&B. Long enough for a debut album to win a Grammy, produce a genuine radio smash, and set up expectations that can feel suffocating by the time the follow-up is actually ready. Victoria Monét knows all of this. She said so herself. "Or this is a comeback," she told the Associated Press this week, pushing back on how people frame the arrival of her second album, Frequency of Love. "Because that makes me feel like there was a gap in time where they noticed that I was gone."
She wasn't gone. She spent the past year opening for Bruno Mars on the European and UK leg of his "The Romantic" tour. She had a No. 1 on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart. But now the album is here, or will be, at midnight, and the whole machine kicks into high gear.
What's on the album
According to Variety, Frequency of Love arrives October 2 via Lovett Music/RCA Records. Twenty-two tracks. Rated R&B reports the album pulls in Bruno Mars, SZA, Bryson Tiller, Leon Thomas, Chlöe, and Monét's daughter, Hazel Monét. That is a serious list. The album also includes the already-released singles "Let Me" and the house-inflected "Reach Out," plus a yacht-rock-flavored track called "Juicy."
Camper, who executive-produced the project, was blunt about what he thought of the sessions. He told Rated R&B, "This is probably going to go down as one of my best bodies of work." Monét, for her part, framed the album's ambitions in Michael Jackson terms. "I did not make 'Thriller,'" she said, via the AP. "I just made my version of what I would make with that mindset."
Rolling Stone reported in July that the pre-album single "Let Me" climbed to No. 1 on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart by June. The "Reach Out" video, directed by Dave Meyers and choreographed by Sean Bankhead, followed. Both tracks built the runway. The album's announcement landed when Monét was mid-tour with Mars, which meant a built-in European audience heard material live before the studio version dropped stateside. One fan who caught her Paris set wrote on Album of the Year that she even previewed a track from the new record during the opening set.
The context matters. Rolling Stone confirmed that Jaguar II earned Monét her first Grammy wins for Best R&B Album, Best New Artist, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 2024 Grammys. That makes her one of the few artists coming into a sophomore record having already cleared the "critical acceptance" bar. The pressure now is purely commercial, can she turn Grammy credibility into mainstream chart numbers with a 22-track project that swings wide?
She is 37. She has been writing songs for Ariana Grande, Chloe x Halle, and others for years before "On My Mama" finally introduced her to the room. Variety noted that she rose to mainstream prominence after Jaguar II's 2023 release, with "On My Mama" becoming the breakthrough. The sophomore album, then, is the first project she has made entirely as a household name rather than a critical favorite.
Also breaking this week: Billy Joel speaks directly to fans after brain surgery
Parade had previously confirmed that Joel had a brain shunt implanted to treat normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition he was diagnosed with in May 2025. He canceled his entire 2025 tour schedule as a result. Billboard noted that while the shunt helped some symptoms, his doctors told him repeated loud rock shows could cause further brain damage, effectively putting live touring off the table for now. He returned to the stage only once, in January, for two songs with a tribute band.
Entertainment Now relayed that Joel described his doctors' warning in stark terms during a separate SiriusXM segment, saying the volume of rock shows was "giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show" and that continuing could mean "losing more brain cells." The Billboard write-up captured the lighter moments too, Joel played piano to recall lyrics, shared his bagel order, and said the one performer he never got to play with but wished he had was John Lennon.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
