There’s something beautifully maddening about finding the right person after years of almosts and could’ve-beens. On “Where Have You Been,” Joe Leone leans all the way into that ache, wrapping his velvet vocals around a love so real it feels like it should’ve happened in another lifetime.

Joe Leone, who’s currently touring alongside Tamar Braxton and October London, doesn’t just croon—he confesses. Over a warm arrangement of pillowy percussion, delicate guitar licks, and an effortlessly groovy bassline, he asks the universe what took so damn long. “Should’ve fell in love in ‘99,” he sings with a sincerity that’s hard to fake. There’s a lived-in wisdom here, the kind that only comes from losing before winning.

In a statement, Leone calls the track “about finding the kind of love that’s so perfect you feel pissed off that you ever tried loving someone else.” That frustration simmers beneath every line. It’s not bitterness—it’s the grief of wasted time, repurposed as appreciation for finally getting it right.

Following the seductive, emotionally tangled “Discipline,” which he dropped earlier this May, “Where Have You Been” shows Leone flexing a softer, more optimistic side. It’s not quite a ballad, not quite a bop—but it lands in that perfect middle ground where late-night drives and early-morning revelations meet.

It’s easy to see why Eric Benét signed him to JBR Creative Group. Joe Leone is the kind of artist who doesn’t just sing a song—he inhabits it. His voice feels less like it’s reaching for radio and more like it’s whispering in your ear at 2 a.m., asking questions you’ve tried to avoid.

“Where Have You Been” might not reinvent the R&B wheel, but it spins it with enough soul and specificity to matter. In a sea of vibe-first, feeling-second releases, Leone is doing the opposite—prioritizing honesty, craft, and heart. And in this case, that’s more than enough.