%20Victoria%20Monet%20-%20Jaguar%20II%20Deluxe.png)
Baby. This is Jaguar III.
It’s funny that this year we got Tension II from Kylie Minogue. A terrible and unnecessary sequel to an album, which should have just been a Deluxe edition of Tension. We also got SZA releasing a Deluxe edition of SOS, with an albums’ worth of new material which don’t feel like they belong with SOS, yet aren’t really strong enough to be a standalone album. And then you have Monét, releasing a Deluxe edition of an album with songs so good they should have been released as a standalone sequel album. There are ten new tracks — eight of which are full length songs. None of which feel like fillers or leftovers. These new songs collectively are more than worthy of bearing the title ‘Jaguar III’, so that’s what I’mma be referring to it as from here on out. The third installment of the punani saga. So treat this as a review strictly for the Jaguar III cuts and not the Jaguar II Deluxe edition as a whole. If you wanna know what I think of Jaguar II, please check out my full review of it, as I won’t be fully getting into those songs here.
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Victoria Monét - Jaguar II: Deluxe | RCA Records |
Jaguar III really highlights how much Monét’s life has changed in a relatively short space of time, both personal and career wise. I doubt when Monét released Jaguar II in 2023 that she ever thought it would actually win Grammys, that she would meet Beyoncé and that she would re-release the album with a lead single featuring Usher. Fame and careers going from 5 to 500 in seconds is a big topic in pop today. Chappell Roan has been very vocal about struggling to adjust to how much her life has changed in the space of not even a year, following the viral success of “Gold Luck, Babe!” and her previously ignored debut studio album finding a whole new audience a year later. Charli XCX experienced the same thing with how Brat blew up and went far beyond her fanbase. Sabrina Carpenter is going through the same shit, off the back of the mammoth success of “Espresso”. It’s a real shame that Monét’s name isn’t mentioned in the same conversations and think pieces when it comes to perceptions of fast fame and tipping point moments when a pop star goes from kinda known to globally known and Grammy nominated. And bear in mind, Monét is a Grammy winner. But we all know why. [Leans in and whispers] Because she’s Black. But that’s a whole other post.
Something I really appreciated and didn’t expect, is that the Jaguar III creates a very clear bridge to Jaguar I. Not to say that Jaguar II didn’t feel connected to Jaguar I, because it did. The soul, the funk, the 70s and the signature horns of Jaguar I were still there. But there was a very clear shift with Jaguar II, which made sense given that Monét’s life had changed significantly between Jaguar I and II. She was in a serious relationship (with the guy who featured in her music video for “Moment”). She became a mother. She got herself a new house built. She signed a deal with RCA. And there was a sense that Monét knew she was on the precipice of ‘making it’ and that this was her one shot to really push everything, so there was a greater sense of commerciality with Jaguar II as a package. Jaguar III feels much closer to Jaguar I in sound, vibe and energy by comparison. Perhaps because Monét is closer to where she was then in some sense. A whole lot less pressure, because this isn’t ‘the debut’ or ‘an album’ — which is probably why she didn’t make this Jaguar III. She’s single again. The pussy is purring.
With Monét being so intentional with her music and particular about the Jaguar package as a whole, it wouldn’t surprise me if she approached these songs like they truly were for Jaguar III in her mind, but chose to make them feel like a bookend of Jaguar without committing to it being a ‘Jaguar III’. Monét is also a business woman. So there is probably also a part of her which intentionally threw the vibe back to Jaguar I to bring everything back full circle, but to also remind people that Jaguar I exists, which is why the inclusion of “We Might Even Be Falling in Love” was genius. Because despite Jaguar II having a big ass II in the title, I feel that not as many people who jumped in at Jaguar II went back to check out Jaguar I. And those who haven’t, really should. Because Jaguar I is really fucking good and NONE O’ DIS would exist without it. I still listen to “Experience” and think about an alternative reality where that song was the smash hit that it deserved to be. If y’all can make Roan’s old-ass “Hot to Go” hit, you can do the same for “Experience”. And off the back of the amazing video for “Alright”, I listen to “Jaguar” and wonder how a music video would look were it choreographed by Sean Bankhead and directed by Dave Meyers. As much as I liked Jaguar II, there was something about Jaguar I which I preferred. Not only am I infatuated with the album title track, but I feel Jaguar I works better as a whole than Jaguar II did. So I like that Jaguar III hearkens back to the beginning of the Jaguar journey. And the Jaguar III cuts could easily sit alongside Jaguar I’s. “Don’t Sleep” quite literally feels like a sonic bridge between “Moment” and “Dive”. It’s a shame that because of legal and record label shit that we may never get a Jaguar complete collection, which has all of the Jaguar songs sequenced together. But that’s cool, ‘cos I’ve already done it.
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Victoria Monét - Jaguar II: Deluxe | RCA Records |
Whether Monét was aware of it or not, or whether she did it intentionally — which she probably did — Jaguar III is a flex. Not just because of the Usher and Thundercat features. But because it’s Monét letting people know that Jaguar I and II were not flukes. And the song that really brought this home for me was “Everybody Needs Someone”, where Monét once again delivers a great soul ballad to sit alongside its Jaguar II sibling, “How Does It Make You Feel”. “Everybody Needs Someone” is a highlight on Jaguar III, despite a vocal performance I’m not super keen on. But we’ll get to that. Monét writes great soul ballads which sound so immediately classic and familiar. I would really like to see a shift back to artists releasing ballads as singles, and people responding to this by sending them to the top of the charts. Ballads in pop, R&B and J-pop used to be a thing y’all, and I miss it. There are still great ballads being written and recorded, they’re just not being released as singles any more. Even K-pop who stayed on the ballad train longer than most, is bumping ballads off of albums. So I really do hope that Monét considers giving a ballad a push for her next album, in addition to putting that pen back to work for Ariana Grande and writing one for her to release. Because if Grande released a ballad, then it would definitely push record labels to start following suit.
Now. Let’s talk about that vocal performance I was not keen on. “Everybody Needs Someone” is a great song. But Monét’s performance unfortunately does not contribute to its greatness. “Everybody Needs Someone” is the one and only Monét song I have listened to and thought ‘This would have worked better with somebody else’. A song like this needed a bigger, richer and more fluid voice. It needed a singer who could effortlessly glide over the music and have their voice swell and pull back when the music does the same. “Everybody Needs Someone” is such a clear nod to the days of Motown, Burt Bacharach and Hal David and it needed a singer who could take on this song the way Marvin Gaye, Dionne Warwick ‘n’ them would have. But Monét just doesn’t have this type of vocal ability or musicality and she is aware of it. You can hear how careful she’s trying to be because she knows she doesn’t have the range or skill to give the song the vocal performance it needs. When she hits that ♪ Everything is gonna be OKAAAAAAAAY ♪, it sounds crusty. And also like her voice has been pitch shifted or had something done to it. But despite this, “Everybody Needs Someone” is still a great song, because Monét’s pen and the production skills of Tommy Parker, Camper and Justus West are adamantium. But a great vocal performance would have really made this song soar and made it feel more single ready. And I think this is why “How Does It Make You Feel” also didn’t quite stick at large in the same way, because Monét’s performance didn’t give the song the extra something that it needed to take it out into the stratosphere. Soul ballads need a strong vocal y’all. So Monét needs to start working on her voice and / or arranging these songs in a way where the music can better meet her where she’s at. Because I still want her to keep delivering soul ballads. She clearly has a thing for them and a skill for writing them. And I don’t want her to only write them for others.
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Victoria Monét - Jaguar II: Deluxe | RCA Records |
Another clear inspiration of Monét’s is Michael Jackson. Big surprise. Who in R&B doesn’t have Jackson as an inspiration!? Not only does “1900s” interpolate his 1983 hit “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”, but Jackson’s vibe and energy permeates this entire album. The influence of Jackson is present across Jaguar as a whole. But the spirit of Jackson’s wig feels VERY present on Jaguar III. And then there’s the partnership of Monét and D’Mile. The same way that Jackson and Jones were able to make magic, Monét and D’Mile do the same. The chemistry between them is undeniable. Even when Jones had nothing to do with a Jackson song, his presence was still felt, and it’s the same with Monét and D’Mile. Even on the one Jaguar III cut which D’Mile didn’t produce, he still has a presence on it, because of the motifs and vibes he had first established back on Jaguar I being cited on the Tommy Parker and Camper productions.
Monét is in a unique place where her fans and even people outside of her fanbase are tapping into her artistry in its entirety and not just latching onto one song — not through lack of her trying to make “On My Mama” that one song — which puts her in a really great place. Especially given that she has a sound and a vibe which isn’t tied to a particular tempo or even genre. There is a sound and a thread which runs through “1900s” and “Everybody Needs Someone” despite one song being a pussy popper and the other being a swoony soul ballad. But, this music thing is a game of signature songs. And I guess if there was a downside to Jaguar III from a commerciality perspective, it’s that it doesn’t have that one song, the way Jaguar II had “On My Mama” and “Alright”. Then again, this is me looking at Jaguar III as a separate thing and not part of Jaguar II. But the one thing Jaguar III does highlight, is that Monét very clearly has a sound. But these new songs also push the boundaries of Monét’s sound in ways which make me really excited as to where she could go with future albums.
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Victoria Monét - Jaguar II: Deluxe | RCA Records |
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