Victory

Victory draws upon the soul, jazz, folk, and gospel traditions that shaped her early years performing alongside relatives in groups such as Infinity Song. Her voice carries a singular honeyed rasp that sets her apart. She launched her career as a solo artist in 2017 on Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint with the EP It’s a New Dawn, then issued her first full-length project the following year, the warmly textured, soul-steeped adult-pop album The Broken Instrument. After contributing to Kanye West’s 2019 release Jesus Is King, she delivered the more expansive and spiritually focused Glory Hour in 2023, an album that incorporated spoken recitations, electronic textures, and a deeper gospel emphasis.

One of nine siblings, Victory Elyse Boyd began singing as a four-year-old in the Boys & Girls Choir of Detroit, an ensemble her father, John Boyd, had established. She later took up jazz guitar. When she turned twelve the family relocated from Detroit to North Bergen, New Jersey, and began performing together on New York City streets and subway platforms under names that included Peace Industry Music Group. Their regular appearances in the Minton Tile Arcade beside Bethesda Fountain soon made them a familiar presence, the location prized for its resonant acoustics.

Infinity Song emerged as a smaller unit within the larger family collective, anchored by Victory, her older brother Abraham, and her younger sister Angel, with additional relatives occasionally joining. The group gained wider attention in 2015 when pop singer Tori Kelly encountered them in Central Park; a bystander’s video of Kelly performing with the siblings led to a joint appearance on ABC’s The View. That same year Peace Industry Music Group issued Infinity Song’s self-titled debut LP. In 2016 the family performed for Jay-Z, who promptly signed them to Roc Nation.

Often likened to Nina Simone for her distinctive timbre and jazz-inflected approach, Victory issued her first solo recording, the Roc Nation EP It’s a New Dawn, in 2017. The project took its title from a lyric in Simone’s “Feeling Good,” a song she also interpreted on the release. Working again with Roc Nation, she followed in 2018 with the largely self-produced The Broken Instrument, an album that nevertheless featured contributions from her father, Jon Batiste, and both horn and string ensembles. Hip-hop producer 9th Wonder handled its overall sound.

She soon joined sessions for Kanye West’s 2019 album Jesus Is King, receiving a songwriting credit on “Closed for Sunday”; an additional track, “Glory,” featuring Boyd was recorded but ultimately left off the project. The experience prompted her to pursue bolder artistic choices. Her next effort, Glory Hour, arrived on Roc Nation in May 2023. Co-produced by Kaleb Moten, who also shared songwriting duties on several pieces, the album wove together spoken-word passages, atmospheric electronics, and fervent gospel performances.