[THE MAIN EVENT]
Why You Should Be Rooting for Victoria Monét
The R&B darling is on her way to superstardom. We’d put that on our Mama.
Grammy season is among us, and a whole lot of talented artists are poised to take home some gilded gramophones this Sunday (Feb. 4). SZA leads the way with nine nominations to commemorate her mammoth year in music. Perennial honorees Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish netted six nods each, as did Jon Batiste, Olivia Rodrigo, and Miley Cyrus. (Also: Shoutout to M88’s own Coco Jones and her five noms!) While all of the aforementioned stars will rightfully gleam brightly, Victoria Monét is the supernova-in-the-making who will have all eyes on her during music’s biggest night. No telescope necessary.
The 34-year-old singer is an old soul with a fresh sound. She has become something of a people’s champion over the past year, the product of a decade-plus grind as a songwriter for herself and others (see: Ariana Grande, Fifth Harmony, Chloe x Halle), which culminated in a gem of a debut album (Jaguar II) seducing fans and critics alike. Victoria’s consistency has been rewarded with seven Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist and Record of the Year (“On My Mama”). And we can’t help but hope she ends the night feeling like Trinidad James.
Victoria Monét’s story is one of persistence and perseverance—an underdog tale you can’t help but get behind. She’s been toiling away at her own music for years, much of it self-funded. There have been false starts and incremental wins along the way. Yet despite cultivating a devoted, steadily growing fanbase, the Sacramento-bred artist often felt overlooked beyond the hits she jotted for her peers. “At the time, I questioned it so much,” she recently told Variety. “Like, what is it about me that’s so lackluster?” Why aren’t people seeing me?
”But the timing of Victoria’s breakout is poetic: She recorded her audio pep talk “On My Mama” just weeks after giving birth to her first child, Hazel, with postpartum depression and a pandemic playing the background. It has become the biggest hit of her solo career, lifting an album stacked with earworms like “Party Girls”; “Alright”; “Smoke”; and the Earth, Wind & Fire-featured “Hollywood.” (The latter track, which is up for Best Traditional R&B Performance, also includes Hazel’s cooing, making her the youngest Grammy nominee ever). The only thing more endearing than Victoria’s come-up is the tear-filled real-time reaction video to her nominations, which felt like they’d never stop rolling in.
“A lot of it happened under the soil,” Monét said. “Now that I’m budding, people are like, that’s a really good flower right there.” We’re no horticulturists, but we’d have to agree. These days, Victoria doesn’t have to pluck any pedals to understand just how beloved she is.
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