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Victoria Monét’s Grammy Moment: The Singer on Nearly Quitting Music, Working While Giving Birth and Finally Seizing the Spotlight
With seven Grammy nominations, Victoria Monét reflects on going from songwriter for Ariana Grande and Blackpink to bona fide star.
Three years ago, Victoria Monét lay on a delivery table in a Los Angeles maternity ward, phone in hand, strategizing with her team about her latest single “F.U.C.K.” Wracked by sporadic contractions, the R&B singer-songwriter had been in labor for two days preparing for the arrival of her first child, Hazel, when doctors ordered an emergency C-section. Raised in Sacramento, the admittedly shy Monét envisioned a life dancing professionally, largely because it was a “silent sport.” But a love of poetry gave way to an interest in songwriting and performance, and after sending a chance message to legendary producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins on MySpace around 2010, he responded asking her to come to Los Angeles to audition for his girl group Purple Reign. In November 2018, she came out as bisexual in a post on X (formerly Twitter), which enabled her to speak more truth in her music, like on the 2019 Grande duet “Monopoly” (“I swerve both ways, dichotomy / I like women and men”) and sensual “Touch Me,” the concluding track on “Jaguar” written about fellow R&B singer Kehlani, with whom she had a relationship and who features on the remix.
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