MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE: A Higher Frequency

Three years after her debut full-length studio album Jaguar II and winning three Grammy awards, Victoria Monét is ready to launch her sophomore project Frequency of Love on October 2^nd. This week is a big one for her with the release of a new single and the announcement of a headlining tour across North America that will run through the fall.

There’s something fitting about Victoria calling the album Frequency of Love, as music has always had the ability to change the frequency at which we operate. One song can lift your mood, transport you back to another time or make an ordinary day feel special. Can love do the same thing? Maybe both those together will do the trick, at least that’s what the title is telling me. There’s a warmth to R&B and specifically the ‘90s R&B era that Victoria is heavily influenced by in the visuals released so far in anticipation of this album.

Back to the whole frequency of love of it all though – she’s taking that idea and launching the “Frequency Of Love Foundation” alongside the album and tour. It’s a youth-centered initiative focused on teaching kids about food, cooking, wellness, and more. Fans who buy tickets to the tour are being given the option to donate to the foundation. With more success comes power, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch an artist use that power to make a difference in their own way. I can’t imagine a greater cause than educating the youth about how to take care of their bodies and minds. That’s what operating on a higher frequency is all about.

Victoria has come a long way from being one of the main writers on Ariana Grande’s thank u, next album and its hit singles. She spent many years behind the scenes, but it was all leading to this moment where she’s the main act. She’s not abandoning the music that got her here either, in fact, much of the magic that we all loved in those Ariana Grande albums is present in Victoria’s music, because, well, she’s the source of so much of it. Great R&B survives through generations because of artists like her who help spread the gospel.

Next week, Miley Cyrus drops her new album Bass Persuades. If you’re one of the lucky lot who survived her Ticketmaster queue of more than 1.5 million fans for her two shows at the Hollywood Bowl, congratulations. I’ll have to settle for the vinyl. This week, Victoria Monét is joined by Tinashe, Jhené Aiko with Kendrick Lamar, Bleachers, and Cage The Elephant. Plus, fans online are obsessing over Pitbull and have made one of his classics go viral.

Listen on…

MC’s PICKS OF THE WEEK

“Juicy” by Victoria Monét

Familiarity is comforting, and while I don’t necessarily like when something is a copy-paste situation, I do love hearing something “familiar” but with a new spin on it. “Juicy” sparks a striking resemblance to “Bed Chem” by Sabrina Carpenter in the opening chords. There’s also an SWV interpolation in the song from their track “All Night Long”. Both of those songs are favourites so hearing “Juicy”, I instantly jumped up with excitement. I’m particularly a sucker for SWV so the melodic interpolation felt like an invite made just for me. “All Night Long” is from the Waiting To Exhale movie soundtrack for those who don’t know so Victoria, if I wasn’t tuned into your new album era yet, you certainly got me now.

Aren’t we the ones who are always complaining online about yearning for the days of 90s R&B to come back? Victoria Monét is one of the fine ladies who can help bring us there. “Juicy” makes you feel like you’re floating and I love the way Victoria’s voice shimmers through each run. This is some of the best contemporary R&B I’ve heard in 2026, just in time for my favourite season… cuffing season.

“So Good” by Jhené Aiko, Kendrick Lamar

At this point, I’m going to require all the R&B girls to have a duet with Kendrick Lamar because the way he harmonizes with them is what I imagine heaven sounds like. I’ve mentioned this about his voice before, but melodically, his deep timbre fits seamlessly with the angelic sounds of a female voice. Jhené’s voice is uniquely ethereal – her literal aesthetic is peace, love, water, and weed. You all name me a more calming mixture of frequencies.

In the early days of this column, I talked about Bruno Mars and his streak of collaborations with female artists hopefully turning into a concept album with only collabs. That dream never happened, but maybe I was planting seeds for something else. A Kendrick all-female duets album? I think it could hit. “So Good” is a radio smasher the same way that “luther” was. My spidey-senses are telling me that this track is going to be played out the speakers of many motor vehicles this fall. Remember, you read that here first.

Not to make Jhené’s song about Kendrick, but he adds so much to it and I truly believe that his R&B capabilities exceed what the general public gives him credit for. “So Good” is a magnificent song – alluring and addictive. It’s the perfect starter for my Fall 2026 playlist and is making me feel ready for sweater weather. Now all I need is a music video and a promotional push from Jhené’s label because this song has “hit” written all over it.

“Caught Myself Believing” by Bleachers

I hope you all have been having a witchy weekend with the release of Practical Magic 2. Critics have their thoughts but as a life-long fan of the original film, I quite enjoyed the sequel. So much so that I went to see it twice already. What a gift it is to live in a world where the audience now has a say in what we want to see, and to us girls and gays, that’s a lot more Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

One of the things that made the original so beloved is the music. The team behind the music of the original films just spoke in detail about the fandom that the soundtrack has developed over the years, so naturally, the music in the sequel was going to be just as important. There are classic tunes from Stevie Nicks, Harry Nilsson (of course) and newer hits from Olivia Rodrigo in the film, along with some new tracks like this one from Bleachers. Jack Antonoff, otherwise known as Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter’s hitmaker, is the lead singer and speaks about taking part in such an iconic film franchise. The sound of Bleachers is soaked in 90s nostalgia to begin with, so it’s a perfect match.

“Caught Myself Believing” is a song about believing in a force or being that cannot be explained away through logic, but rather through faith and life experience itself. Similar to the story of the Owens sisters, there are certain things that aren’t believable, but are still very true. The song plays in a scene in the film where music supervisor Season Kent says they were “looking for a male voice”. It fits perfectly, as does all the music in the sequel. From both a nostalgia and music perspective, Practical Magic 2 is a slam dunk and frankly I feel bad for those who just don’t get it. The thing is, though, they were never going to get it to begin with. The season of the witch is alive and well…midnight margaritas anyone?

“Pillow Fight” by Tinashe

Sexy, sassy and confident are a few words that pop into mind whenever a Tinashe track comes on and “Pillow Fight” only further reinforces this. She’s the quintessential bad b-tch, reminding all of us millennials that we can still “dip it and do it” as my former talk show queen Wendy Williams used to say.

“Pillow Fight” is dreamier than the previous single releases from this new project. The piano chords are a throwback to the sound of the mid-2000s, especially when taking in the way that the bass blends to make the song a danceable ballad. What is exciting to me about all the songs that Tinashe has released this summer is that they don’t sound like anything else that is out there. Tyla is one artist that comes to mind who embodies a similar aesthetic, but Tinashe executes it in a much more polished fashion, with a sound that is far more experimental and daring.

Tinashe also has a gift for trying new things in her music while still maintaining the signature sound that she has built since the early 2010s. Popstar her new album, drops in two weeks and while she hasn’t earned a traditional “hit” as of yet from it, she has definitely pleased the fans who are going to be buying tickets to her live shows. This is the Tinashe we fell in love with during her debut album era, and the best answer to the type of success she has earned the last few years is to just bring things back to basics.

“Dying In Reverse” by Cage The Elephant

Imagine being transported back to 1997 when you would discover a song for the first time on the radio and you feel your entire world shake. That’s what listening to “Dying In Reverse” for the first time felt like for me. Granted, I was two years old back then but that feeling remained constant until streaming stole the radio’s thunder in the mid-2010s, so you catch my drift.

“Dying In Reverse” has got the spirit of an alternative 90s gem, think “Bittersweet Symphony”. This song belongs in the end credits of a provocative teen film. It is the lead single from the band’s upcoming seventh studio album although no other details surrounding the project have been announced as of yet. It has that “instant classic” sound, you just know that it will speak to generations of kids (and adults). I’m especially infatuated with the piano solo in the bridge of the song before a glitchy sound redirects back to the chorus. It’s the type of song that my soul craves when I’m lying in the grass and taking a moment to ground myself.

“Dying just to live I’m gonna make it last/I don’t even care if I make it back”; these lyrics in the song’s outro speak to the existential crisis that many of us find ourselves in when we get lost in the grind of day-to-day life. Sometimes “living” really feels like “dying” and it truly is an absolute fight to “make it back” to living to the fullest. Music is the everlasting key to finding that way.

MC’s VIRAL PICK

“The Anthem” by Pitbull, Lil’ Jon

Some of you may be surprised to read this but I quite enjoy Pitbull’s music. Hear me out, sometimes it really is ok to just let loose and have fun. Not everything needs to be so serious all the time, and Pitbull’s music is the perfect soundtrack for acting a fool.

So it’s no wonder that his current “I’m Back Tour” with Lil’ Jon as opening act has become one of the hottest selling tours of the summer. He’s been performing in amphitheatres across North America for the last few months and is bringing the tour to Europe, and the tickets are selling like hot cakes. I’m serious. I tried to get tickets to the show in Toronto just a few weeks ago and all the tickets were going for over $1,000 on resale. Safe to say – I missed the show. But I knew the fans online would come through because social media is flooded with fans in their bald caps having a ball at the show.

One song that is gaining tons of attention is the 2007 club banger “The Anthem” which features both Pit and Lil’ Jon. The song samples “Calabria 2007”, one of the most recognizable House samples of the 2000s. You’ll know it when you hear it.

@madygracerose

PITBULLLLLL

♬ The Anthem - Pitbull

@pitbull WE AIN’T HERE WITHOUT THE FANS BOTTOM LINE… THANK U 🙏 @Lil Jon ♬ original sound - Pitbull

This of course is not the first time that this song has gained attention on social media. There have been dance trends, lip synch trends and more. But when you’re an artist who has been making music for decades, music that has become ingrained in the subconscious of the general public, it doesn’t take much for the music to have another moment. “The Anthem” is now sitting at the top spot on Spotify’s “big on the internet” playlists and is serving as the anchor for this entire world tour. It’s the song fans are using to express their joy, and what could be greater than that?

The 2026 “MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE” Spotify playlist is live. You can add it here to keep up to date with my weekly picks throughout the year. 

With Love, 

MC