Victoria Monét crafts plush R&B shaped by cosmopolitan pop elements for her explorations of heartache, seduction, and self-affirmation. A prolific songwriter, she earned her first major placement on Diddy - Dirty Money's "I Hate That You Love Me" (2010) and collected her initial Grammy nominations for contributions to Ariana Grande's chart-topping "7 rings" (2019) along with Chloe x Halle's likewise platinum-certified "Do It" (2020). Monét developed her independent solo catalog alongside those milestones through Nightmares & Lullabies and Life After Love, a pair of two-part EPs. After the Jaguar EP (2020), she signed with major-label RCA and released Jaguar II (2023), reinforcing her long-running creative alliance with D'Mile across an album that ranges from '70s-sounding cinematic soul to contemporary house and dancehall. The project produced the Top 40 hit "On My Mama" and brought several Grammy victories, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Album.
Originally from Georgia, Victoria Monét McCants relocated to Sacramento with her family during childhood. Immersed in the performing arts early on, she danced and sang before beginning to write and developing an interest in music production. She contacted Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins through MySpace, which led to her joining Purple Reign, the group the producer assembled and signed to Motown. Purple Reign never took off—none of its recordings received commercial release—yet Monét soon became a sought-after songwriter. She contributed to Diddy - Dirty Money's "I Hate That You Love Me" and accumulated further credits as both songwriter and featured artist over the next several years. Monét appeared on tracks by Nas and T.I., co-wrote the Cruel Summer song "Sin City," and strengthened her R&B and pop standing through work with Eric Bellinger, Chrisette Michele, and Ariana Grande. A lasting partnership with Grande began with two songs for the 2013 album Yours Truly and expanded the following year with greater involvement on My Everything.
Shortly after My Everything reached the top of the Billboard 200, Monét self-released her debut EP, Nightmares & Lullabies: Act 1. Nightmares & Lullabies: Act 2 arrived the next June. Over the ensuing couple of years she handled assignments for Fifth Harmony, Jordin Sparks, and Wale while working even more closely with Grande, co-writing more than a dozen tracks that appeared on Christmas & Chill and Dangerous Woman. Still managing her own recordings independently, Monét issued another pair of EPs, Life After Love, Pt. 1 and Life After Love, Pt. 2, in 2018. Further peaks alongside Grande came on Sweetener and thank u, next. Those albums contained eight Monét songs in total, among them "thank u, next" and "7 rings," both number-one pop hits. The latter also received a Record of the Year nomination, one of the Grammys' big-four categories.
In 2020 Monét placed songs on Chloe x Halle's Ungodly Hour and Brandy's B7, then released her own Jaguar, an EP-length set introduced as the opening installment of her debut album. Jaguar appeared on the Billboard 200 and topped the Heatseekers chart for developing artists. Later that year "Do It," one of the songs Monét wrote with Chloe x Halle, earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Song. The ballad "F.U.C.K." and slow jam "Coastin'" surfaced as standalone Monét singles in 2021. She then secured a deal with RCA, inaugurated in 2023 by the Lucky Daye collaboration "Smoke." That single previewed Jaguar II, issued that August. Tim Suby, Kaytranada, and James Fauntleroy joined Monét and chief collaborator D'Mile on production and songwriting, while dancehall legend Buju Banton supplied the album's Caribbean dimension with a featured appearance on "Party Girls." The LP reached number 20 on the R&B/hip-hop chart, and the celebratory "On My Mama" became a radio staple, giving Monét a number-36 pop hit. Nominated in seven categories at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, Monét won Best New Artist, while Jaguar II took Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. A 2024 deluxe edition of Jaguar II added ten further tracks, including a Sade cover and collaborations with Usher, Bryson Tiller, and Thundercat.
