It’s quietly been the year of Victoria Monét – and the noise has gotten louder and louder by the month. From soundtracking the springtime alongside Lucky Daye on the billowy “Smoke” to slyly dropping an eleventh-hour song of the summer contender in the brassy “On My Mama,” Victoria’s Jaguar II campaign has been one of the most fulfilling musical stories of the year. One of contemporary music’s most prolific songwriters finally gets a real look from consumers as a recording artist in her own right. And yet, that wasn’t enough for the MTV Video Music Awards, who told Monét’s team that it was “too early in [her] story” to perform at the telecast.

Too early for an artist who has been releasing music for just under a decadel? Too early for an artist with three Grammy nominations and multiple No. 1 singles (as a songwriter) to her name? In a way, the whole situation was emblematic of what appears to be an overarching dynamic for Monét’s career — she’s always several steps ahead of the curve. On Jaguar, her 2020 EP, she was playing with the same neo-classical R&B sounds and influences that would net Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak) four Grammys two years later. On Jaguar II, her debut studio album, Victoria expands the sonic aesthetic she established with the record’s predecessor by looping in ‘00s Southern hip-hop, a new level of emotional vulnerability and generation-bridging collaborators.

What’s made the entire Jaguar era so captivating is how thorough and intricate the throughlines are. Originally intended as the second in a series of three EPs — Jaguar II not only earns its promotion to a full studio album, but the record also maintains continuity with the first Jaguar EP despite a concerted expansion into more disparate musical styles. On the Lucky Daye-assisted lead single and album opener, “Smoke,” Victoria balances choral organ flourishes with her and Lucky’s sultry vocal chemistry for a song that immediately plays with the convergence of the sacred and secular through its lyrical ode to the transformative powers of weed. Both vocalists have a touch of humor to their tones that help sell the underlying levity of lines like. “it's a bisexual blunt, it can go both ways.” When that burst of brass comes in, however, it’s the clearest callback to the horny (pun intended) energy of Jaguar.

Victoria’s genius grasp of interludes helps keep things cohesive on Jaguar II. Although there’s just one interlude here, “Smoke (Reprise),” in a way, it’s the most important song on the album. Produced by D’Mile — who helmed the majority of the album — the reprise smoothens the sonic transition between the lush gospel-tinged R&B of “Smoke” and the summery nu-reggae of “Party Girls,” and later the thumping house of “Alright.” "Party Girls,” a somewhat unlikely collaboration with Buju Banton, finds Victoria dipping a toe into West Indian rhythms and joining forces with a musical giant of the generation preceding her. The song doesn’t really pick up until the staccato hook, and that momentum carries it through Buju’s energetic verse. “Party Girls” never achieves the seamless fusion of reggae and pop&b that it’s searching for — mostly because Victoria’s energy is still a bit too languid for all the verve Buju is bringing on his side — but it’s still a solid expansion of her sound that fits within the seductive late-night haze of Jaguar II. From there, the slinky KAYTRANADA-produced “Alright" — which features the much-discussed “He gave me some dick in bed / Now, he think his dick is embedded” and finishes with a literal jaguar growl — transports Victoria from a sweaty dancehall to an equally arousing nightclub. It’s like the “Experience” of Jaguar II, but the heat has been turned up a couple notches.

“Party Girls” and “Alright” might feel a bit disparate from the rest of Jaguar — and, to an extent, they are — but they also lay a solid chunk of the foundation for the back half of the record. On the ridiculously smooth Isleys-evoking “Cadillac,” Victoria blends some of those reggae flourishes of “Party Girl” with an endlessly gaudy take on funk for a song that flips the concept of the male pimp, further entrenching her in a wave Southern Black female artists, such as Megan Thee Stallion, putting their own spin on some of the region’s most popular tropes. The Isleys feel of “Cadillac” echoes across the rest of Jaguar II. In fact, ‘70s R&B, in general, is a major touchstone for Jaguar II, which recalls “Coastin’,” one of the standalone singles that bridged Jaguar and Jaguar II. “How Does It Make You Feel” and “I’m the One” find Victoria reaching for a level of vulnerability she hasn’t yet explored in the Jaguar cycle. The second verse on “I’m the One,” in particular, is a lyrical highlight, tracing Victoria’s confusion and frustration at her partner’s hesitation to call their something special exactly what it is.

“Hollywood,” a collaboration with Hazel Monét — Victoria’s two-year-old daughter — and Earth, Wind & Fire — is probably the weakest song on the project, not because it’s a poorly crafted song, but because it feels less than the sum of its parts. There was an opportunity for a real elongated groove session that traversed R&B, disco, and soul, but, instead, “Hollywood” delivers an unimaginative exploration of the concept of Tinseltown. “Stop” recalls the tongue-in-cheek humor of both “Smoke” and standout track “On My Mama,” but it almost sounds a touch too close to An Evening With Silk Sonic without the hilarious spoken word interjections of its live arrangement. Closing out with “Goodbye,” Victoria clears the haze that’s been hanging over the record and lays the funk on thick to wish someone farewell with the greatest goodbye ever. It’s a thumping two-step hymnal that infuses the innate seductiveness of Victoria’s music with a touch of wistfulness and longing. “If this is the last time, let's make this one a good bye, good bye, ba-da-da,” she coos in the song’s outro.

A formidable sequel to a terrific EP, Jaguar II does everything a debut studio album should. All the world needs to do is listen.

Key Tracks: “On My Mama” | “Alright” | “How Does It Make You Feel” | “I’m the One” | “Good Bye”

Score: 80