There are certain moments in a career that feel like a second arrival, where an artist returns not to remind anyone they exist but to raise the stakes entirely. Victoria Monét released “Reach Out” on July 22 via Lovett Music and RCA Records, and it is exactly that kind of moment. The second single from her forthcoming sophomore album Frequency of Love, due October 2, lands with the confidence of an artist who has already won the room and is now deciding what to do with it.
Produced by the acclaimed duo D’Mile and KAYTRANADA, the song is a smooth, nostalgic R&B track about yearning for a reconnection with a past love. Their two styles meet in the middle with Kaytra’s signature bump adding the spice and D’Mile’s silky smooth R&B giving us a memorable melody, and the result is a record that sounds effortless in the specific way that only deeply considered music does. The groove moves with that particular loose-limbed ease of songs made by people who have played together long enough to know when to step back and when to lean in.
The chorus makes its request simply and with full self-possession: “When’s the last time that you (Reach out) / Probably been for (Ever) / But I like when you (Reach out) / Don’t have me wait for (Forever).” It is the kind of lyric that sits in your head long after the song ends, partly because of how the call-and-response structure carries it and partly because the feeling behind it is one that barely needs explaining to anyone who has ever waited too long for a message that should have come first. Monét has always had a gift for translating the interior life of desire into something that sounds like it was pulled directly out of a conversation you have already had with yourself, and “Reach Out” is another precise example of that skill.
The accompanying music video was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dave Meyers and features intricate choreography by Sean Bankhead, with the visual putting Monét’s dynamic range as both a singer and performer fully on display. The visual follows her as she performs in an all-black ensemble, leading an army of backup dancers on a journey to send a message to a long-term love interest. The collaboration between Meyers and Bankhead is a pairing that deserves its own sentence: two of the most respected names in music video direction and choreography respectively, working with an artist who knows exactly what she wants a room to feel like when she walks into it. The result is performance-driven in the purest sense, where the movement is not decoration but argument, each sequence making the emotional case for a song that is already making it on its own.
“I am so thankful to everyone who was a part of this piece of art,” Monét wrote on Instagram upon sharing the video. “I couldn’t have done it without every single one of you.” That language of collective gratitude is consistent with everything about how she operates as an artist. Her collaborations are genuine partnerships, and the music reflects that.
Frequency of Love follows JAGUAR II, the 2023 debut album that rewrote the terms of Monét’s public profile entirely. She took home trophies for Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 2024 Grammy Awards, the first batch of Grammy nominations she earned for her own music following her original wins for her work on Ariana Grande‘s Thank U, Next album. She had spent years building one of the most respected songwriting credits in pop, writing for Grande, Beyoncé, Brandy, Khalid, and dozens of others before stepping fully into the spotlight herself. When she did, the audience was ready, and the Grammys confirmed what everyone paying close attention had already understood.
The lead single from Frequency of Love, “Let Me,” climbed to the Number One spot on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart in June, establishing the sonic and emotional territory of the new album before “Reach Out” arrived to expand it. Where “Let Me” operated in the quieter registers of longing, “Reach Out” brings energy and momentum, the feeling of someone who has waited long enough and is now deciding to say so out loud and with full choreographic conviction.
Outside of her own music, Monét is currently wrapping up the European and UK leg of Bruno Mars‘ The Romantic Tour as a special guest alongside Anderson .Paak as DJ Pee .Wee, with the run concluding at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 24, 25, and 28. The fact that she is delivering new music and closing out a Wembley run in the same week says everything about the pace at which this particular era is moving. She has described Frequency of Love as a sensory experience, weaving R&B with the romance of cinema and the energy of the dance floor, and “Reach Out” delivers on all three of those promises in under four minutes.
October 2 cannot arrive soon enough.
