Album review: Victoria Monét - Jaguar

Jaguar is Victoria Monét debut project. Something that she's reluctant to call an album just yet, because Jaguar is the first of three projects that will complete a body of work. Something which makes the short-ass tracklist make sense, kind of. And the feeling that you have when the final track rolls around feel somewhat less bittersweet, kind of.

Victoria Monét is probably known to most as a result of Ariana Grande, who put Victoria Monét out there with her televised performance of "Thank U, Next", on that toxic lesbian's daytime show. A song which Victoria co-wrote. But Victoria has been a part of Ariana's music since Yours Truly and every album since. Look at the song writing credits on each of her albums and you will see her name listed. And ever since then Victoria has written for many other artists, including Chloe x Halle ("Do It") and Brandy ("Rather Be"). The thing with Victoria is that she doesn't have a particularly distinct writing style and she doesn't always pen songs with the same producers, so you wouldn't hear a song and think 'Oh, that's a Victoria Monét song' in the same way you might do a Ne-Yo song, who often worked with Stargate and had a distinct writing style and way in which he arranged vocals. So the cool thing about Jaguar is that it feels like a reset on Victoria Monét. Even if you've heard her previous 4 EP's, this still feels like somewhat of a reset. One of the only songs that Victoria had previously released which feels like it's in the same realm as Jaguar is "The Glow", which those who are staunch Insecure fans and follow the music of the series will know of. She doesn't have a set style, which works in her favour and allows her to do whatever the fuck she wants and channel her shit how she sees fit. And with Jaguar, Victoria has channelled it into sex, throwbacks and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Jaguar is what I call the Punani saga, because pretty much every song on this thing is about the needs of her punani. Now, I'm writing this in the wake of "WAP" setting the Internet alight, with men coming out of the wood work complaining about two women being open about their sexual desires and how good their pussy is. If you have issues with women imploring their sexual desires and talking about how good their pussy is, whilst having nothing to say about men who objectify women, then this isn't the album for you, and you've got some shit you need to work on.

HENNYWAY.

Jaguar is basically a fuck record, with the only exceptions being "Experience" and "Ass Like That", but even they could be contextually about fucking. 'I'm hoping this experience will get you to change', with the experience more than likely being a night of passion. And whilst "Ass like That" is an ode to loving your own body, the question in the hook 'He wanna know, how I get an ass like that' tells us that she's in a setting with a guy where he's able to see it in order to ask it.

Victoria shows her creativity and ability to write 9 songs about the same thing, but with different themes and energies. And even when Victoria is being nasty, she's being witty and giving you homour. I have never heard anybody use aeronautics to describe getting nutted on their back. Or describe their pussy as a jaguar, 'Silky black'. Victoria approaches each song almost like a rapper in some cases. The hook on Jaguar is a mouthful. Her cadence on the pre-chorus of "Moment" makes it very easy to flip into a rap. And the coolest thing that Victoria does lyrically is to gender her lover as a female in "Touch Me". With it being the final song, it makes you look back on the likes of "Dive" in a different way. Victoria most certainly shows her colours as a songwriter here. However, whenever we get a great creative lyric, it's followed by something really plain or just plain strange which takes you of the moment of the song. The 'I want that jungle kinda love' in "Jaguar" makes no real sense. The song is called jaguar, so contextually, I get it. But what is a jungle kinda love? Back-shots up against a tree? Being put on your back and pounded amongst some trees? On "Go There With You" we get the lyric 'We picking fights like it’s Fortnite'. On "Moment", the entire act of sex is described like something emotional, other-worldy and unreal. Victoria is so masterful with her words in getting across what this song is about without actually saying it. Then we just get the line 'And you're inside of me'. It just feels so lazy to drop that lyric in the second verse of a song where so much work has been done to describe sex as this more than just a penetrative thing.

But the cool thing with this album is that whilst the subject matter may seem one note, the style of each song and the way in which Victoria Monét approaches them makes each one feel unique and different. And the even cooler thing is that the song titles pretty much paint the picture of the vibe you will get for the song. "Moment" sounds like like an ethereal moment or a great sex dream. "Dive" sounds like this amazing underwater adventure. "Jaguar" sounds dark and feral. "Experience" sounds like magic. It's not something I've ever experienced with an album, or at least not noticed before, but it's really cool. Which leads me into something else which really sticks out on this album. The production.

The production on Jaguar is gorgeous. There are a lot of live instruments and brass in particular, which is a theme that runs through near enough every song in some form. The entire album sounds a lot like Earth Wind & Fire. The album title track literally sounds like it could be an Earth Wind & Fire song. There is a richness which runs through Jaguar. Every song, with the exception of "Experience" is produced by D'Mile, who came up working under Rodney Jerkins, and his production is impeccable. Victoria and D'Mile have such a great chemistry on this thing that I'd liken to Timbaland and Aayliah, Brandy and Rodney Jerkins, Britney and Max Martin, Rina Sawayama and Clarence Clarity. They make magic together, and I hope this is the start of a great partnership.

Now is the elephant in the room. The shortness. Now, I'm not against albums with short tracklists if the material on it is good and it feels complete. But this is isn't an album. I know Victoria has been reluctant to call Jaguar an album because she sees it's as a project with more parts to come. But let's be real. Everywhere is regarding Jaguar as Victoria debut album, but it's pretty much an EP. 2 out of the 9 songs are interludes. Beautifully produced interludes, but they are still interludes; with one being a minute and a half long and the other being 30 seconds. Rina Sawayama released an 8 track EP with a longer runtime than this project, album, whatever-you-wanna-call-it. And here-in lies the biggest problem with Jaguar. It's not that it's short. It's that it feels short.

Every song seems like it's in a damn rush to end. "Jaguar" should've been a 5 minute groove, had a second instrumental passage with extra percussion, and ended with a big-ass string arrangement and horns. But instead, it just fades whilst you're still fully in the midst of its groove. "Go There With You" should have had a killer guitar solo as its bridge. But instead, the song just fades out. "Touch Me" needed a middle-8 and to also end with a lush string arrangement which softly fades, to make you feel like the evoked feeling of ecstasy within the song is still on-going. But instead it ends with the hook being sung a capella and then it abruptly ends in silence, which doesn't feel like the most satisfying closer to this album, project, extended player, whatever-you-wanna-call-it. The production on these songs is still amazing, but some of the songs are just too damn short. Earth, Wind 7 Fire would never. Victoria and D'Mile should've taken a page out of Janelle Monáe's book. And I mention Janelle Monáe because the vibe of songs such as "Moment" reminds me so much of "Don't Judge Me" from Dirty Computer, which is a 6 minute song. Janelle and her Wondaland producers aren't too afraid to let a moment be a moment and end it when it feels right. Where-as every song on Jaguar feels like it's on the clock. If you're going to give us Disco inspired songs and Earth, Wind & Fire type cuts, then go all the way and give us extended grooves and vibes. With half of the songs ending prematurely, it causes Jaguar to sound like it's selling itself short.

Jaguar is a really good album, project, fuck playlist, whatever-you-wanna-call-it. But the end result feels strange, because I see the vision and I get the concept, but the execution falls a little short. The sound is consistent across the whole thing, but the sequencing doesn't quite feel right. The songs sound great, but they don't always feel complete; as though they're missing minute of music, or a verse or two.

Jaguar has enough to it that it will put Victoria on as an artist to look out for. But as her big debut, there should've been just a bit more to this. What's here is good. But there should have been more. The three part project thing is a cool idea, but Victoria should have approached this first part as a more complete body of work, as though she may not get the chance to put out the next two. Because we know how this music game can be. And given how long it took for Jaguar to land, who knows when Tiger and Panther, or whatever-the-fuck they gon' be called gon' drop.

When that ninth track ended, I didn't feel like I'd gotten a full course or something that was complete. I felt like I'd just gotten morsels of a starter. And whilst this may have been the intention, it actually hurts Jaguar in a way. Because my focus isn't on what's coming next, it's what I didn't get now.

👍🏾 Brilliantly produced
👎🏾 Gurl, where is the rest of these songs?

VERDICT: SILKY BLACK

Highlights:
■ Moment
■ We Might Be Falling In Love (Interlude)
■ Jaguar 🏆
■ Experience
■ Go There With You