adult R&B

After earning a Grammy Award for best R&B performance with her 2022 R&B/pop breakthrough hit “Hrs and Hrs,” Muni Long is back with a new album, Revenge, today (Aug. 30) on The Muni Long Inc./Def Jam Recordings. The sophomore follow-up to Public Displays of Affection: The Album also arrives with two hits already in tow: “Made for Me” and “Make Me Forget.” The latter recently marked Long’s first No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay.

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The singer-songwriter describes the 14-track Revenge (listen HERE) in press materials as “one big diary entry.” Aside from its latest single, the soulful ballad “Ruined Me,” the project features more noteworthy songs like the introspective “30s” (“The first song I actually wrote for the album”), opening anthem “Superpowers” and uptempo BFF ode “Bessie.” 

From start to finish, Revenge brims with frank, raw emotion and relatable scenarios. That’s thanks to Long’s insightful penmanship, like this line from “Superpowers”: “How come my superpowers don’t work on you and me.” There’s also Long’s appealing voice, for which she shouts out vocal producer Kuk Harrell: “We just mesh; he knows how to pull it out of me.” Additional Revenge collaborators include hitmakers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Make Me Forget,” which includes an interpolation of D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”), Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman (“Ruined Me”) and Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox (“Made for Me”).

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Long had recently ended her opening act stint on Chris Brown’s 11:11 Tour, which wrapped in early August, when Billboard caught up with her during an airport layover. At one point in the phone interview, she said Revenge is going to be “the R&B album of the year.

“First of all, you have to be a bit deluded to do this [music],” she continued with a laugh. “But I have to believe that even before the album is finished. I had to know that’s what I wanted to do as I’m doing it because that energy and that frequency have to be infused into the music. That’s something a lot of music is missing on the energetic and confidence level — before anyone else validates you. You can tell that I didn’t just throw these tracks together. This project was well thought out and well-intentioned. People are going to appreciate that, and resonate with the music on a deeper level.”

What lessons did you learn as an opening act on your first arena tour?  

It was like a big singalong every night. I’ve done three shows on my own since Chris’ tour ended and these crowds came with the expectation of hearing great songs. They want to hear R&B music. I understand it’s not normal for a new artist to be on their first tour doing arenas, right? So I don’t take that for granted. I learned a lot: how to work the crowd; how to coexist with the audience and not be up there like I’m separate from them. It felt like a masterclass working with Chris because he’s such an incredible live performer. I only had 30 minutes. So I don’t know how he was doing it for two-and-a-half hours at the energy level he was giving, dancing and full-out singing. It was a crazy, amazing experience.

What was it like working with Mariah Carey on the “Made for Me” remix?

The fact that she even said yes was just like, wow. I grew up listening to her, Whitney [Houston] and Celine [Dion]. So not only was it an honor but I got to have my name next to hers [laughs]. Mariah is also an excellent vocal producer, producer and songwriter. I don’t think she gets the credit she deserves. Working with her as an artist and, prior to that a songwriter, was probably one of the most memorable, precious experiences that I’ve had in music. But working with her, she never made you feel like she’s this big personality. It was always, “I have you here because I want your essence, your vibe. I want you to do what you do.”

Now you’re in promotion mode for Revenge. What sparked the creative direction behind this album?

Sometimes I’ll get the itch that I just need to write. Or I’ll hear a conversation or a piece of music that will inspire a lyric. I didn’t really have a specific theme as to what this album was going to be about. It was, “I like this song. It’s really good and I want to keep it.” From there it was about narrowing them down. I had like 18 songs when I first got with Tricky. So I let him shape the album and the track listing — something I normally would have done. But I kind of stepped back, allowing myself to make the art and let somebody else help me form the picture. This is the first time I’ve done that.

How did the title track come about?

We were in the studio, and The-Dream came by just to visit. I remember looking around the room, and there’s Tricky, Kuk Harrell, Theron Thomas, The-Dream and me. There’s no way I’m about to have all these powerful people in this room and not get a song [laughs]. And if you’ve ever been around The-Dream, you know he loves to go back and forth. So we get to arguing about relationships, men and women and how we treat each other … what’s the angle? Somehow we get to where, at a certain point, all the tit for tat isn’t necessary: It’s I don’t even want revenge. I just want you to go on somewhere. That’s when we started writing the lyric. Actually, Dream texted what I said, went into a booth and freestyled the entire melody for the verse and chorus. He’s like, “OK, I’m done.” Then Theron and I took that and just basically wrote my story; like, this is what I’m going through right now. Because it’s so close to home I was like, “This is the title.” The best revenge is success.

In your press materials, you note the journey to this career moment took 17 years. Did you ever lose faith while pivoting from songwriter to singer-songwriter?

If I’d known that it was going to take this long, I’d have probably done something else [laughs].  I got super impatient. I was ready to quit many times. But I think there’s something to be said about listening to your gut. Every time I wanted to walk away, I was like, “No, what else am I going to do?” This is where my heart is and that really kept me going. I spent a lot of time writing songs for other people [Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson]. But I don’t regret that because I learned so much. That’s why I’m able to write songs the way that I do. So everything happens exactly how it should.