This year, Black Music Month has had its highs, like President Biden officially recognizing it at the White House, and its um, lows. (We know y’all caught that Verzuz performance Thursday night.) But perhaps one of the biggest wins for Black music this month came courtesy of no one other than the Monica Denise, and her Tiny Desk performance. On Friday morning, the legendary R&B diva partnered with NPR’s Tiny Desk (at home) series to gift her fans with a few of her classics, and a new surprise single.
In the pre-recorded concert footage, Monica appeared in an all pink ensemble from her lace top to her pink pumped feet where dozens of candles encircled her. As beautiful as she looked however, she was quick to remind her audience that she has always been more than a pretty face and a good shoe. Getting right down to business with the assistance of her live band and back up vocalists, the singer opened the experience with “Angel of Mine,” from her Grammy nominated album, “The Boy is Mine.”
The songstress then moves into a more recent hit single of hers, “Love All Over Me,” which you may recall from your roundup of karaoke go-to’s circa 2010 if you love belting the ballads.
Monica then takes us back over 20 years to her debut album, “Miss Thang,” which gave us the 1995 prom classic, “Why I Love You So Much.” Fast forwarding the timeline a bit, she then sang a snippet of “So Gone,” you know…the track that introduced us to Goonica, before giving us a taste of something totally new. “Friends” is slated to be Monica’s new single featuring Ty Dolla $ign. And let me just say, the vocals on this song won out among every other. The track will be the next release on the star’s highly anticipated album, “Trenches.”
The evening closes out with another classic favorite, “Before You Walk Out My Life,” and it immediately feels like the program has come full circle. While many fans await “Trenches,” Monica also recently revealed that a country album is in the works. No release date for either project has been announced as of yet, but if this recent concert was a preview of the goodness to come, I’m all for it.