Victoria Monét facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Victoria Monét
Monét in 2023
Background information
Birth name	Victoria Monét McCants
Born	(1989-05-01) May 1, 1989 (age 36) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Origin	Sacramento, California, U.S.
Genres	R&B pop soul
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Lovett Music RCA Atlantic
Partner(s)	John Gaines (2020–2023)
Children	1

Victoria Monét McCants (born May 1, 1989) is an American singer and songwriter. She first became known for writing songs for other artists. Later, she started her own music career, releasing several mini-albums called extended plays (EPs). Her fifth EP, Jaguar (2020), was highly praised by music critics.

Her first full studio album, Jaguar II (2023), became a big success. It featured the popular song "On My Mama", which reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. This song also earned a nomination for Record of the Year at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. At these awards, Victoria Monét received seven nominations in total. She won three big awards: Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

Victoria Monét got involved in performing when she was very young. She started her music journey in 2010. After being part of a girl group for a short time, she began writing songs. She often worked with singer Ariana Grande, helping to write songs for many of Grande's albums, from Yours Truly (2013) to Positions (2020). In 2019, Monét was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, for her work on Ariana Grande's album Thank U, Next. That same year, Monét and Grande released their own song, "Monopoly", which became a top 40 hit in the UK.

Throughout her career, Victoria Monét has written songs for many famous artists like Nas, Travis Scott, Blackpink, Fifth Harmony, and Chris Brown. She has won several awards, including two Soul Train Music Awards, three Grammy Awards, and the Rising Star Award from Billboard Women in Music.

Early Life and First Steps in Music

Victoria Monét was born in Georgia and moved to Sacramento, California, when she was a child. Her mother is L'Tanya Chestang-Cubit.

When she was in elementary school, she performed in school plays and sang in her church choir. In middle school, she started her own dance group and even taught at dance studios. She really wanted to join the performing arts program at Sheldon High School in Sacramento. She convinced her mom to change their address so she could attend that school.

Outside of dance, Monét discovered a new love for writing poetry with her older cousin. This soon turned into writing her own music. A music producer in Sacramento taught her about the music world and how to make songs in a recording studio. Through this, she learned about famous producer Rodney Jerkins and connected with him online.

Starting a Career in Music

Rodney Jerkins invited Victoria Monét to Los Angeles to try out for a new girl group he was forming called Purple Reign. The group got a record deal with Motown a year later, but they were dropped before they could release any music.

After the group broke up, Monét focused on songwriting to earn money while she waited for her own singing career to take off. The first song she worked on was for Diddy Dirty Money's album Last Train to Paris in 2010. She kept writing song parts called hooks and sang the demo versions herself. She hoped that music labels would like her voice enough to keep her on the songs as a featured artist.

The CEO of Atlantic Records, Craig Kallman, heard one of her demo songs and offered her a record deal that same day. Even though she signed a deal, Monét realized that her songwriting career grew faster than her singing career at first. Songwriting remained her main way to earn money when she was starting out as an artist.

Early EPs and Touring

On October 30, 2014, Victoria Monét released her first EP, Nightmares & Lullabies: Act 1. She followed this with Nightmares & Lullabies – Act 2 on June 17, 2015, both released under Atlantic Records. She chose the name because it described the sound of the EPs: a mix of dark beats and soft melodies.

Monet performing in 2017

In July 2016, Monét released the song "Better Days" with Ariana Grande. Monét then joined the girl group Fifth Harmony as an opening act for their North American tour, which started on July 25, 2016. Ariana Grande even joined Monét on stage for one show to perform "Better Days." Later, in September 2016, Grande announced that Monét would also open for her own Dangerous Woman Tour in North America, along with the British girl group Little Mix. Monét also supported Grande on the European part of the tour.

In 2016, Monét released a song called "Do You Like It," followed by "Ready" in April 2017 while she was on tour with Ariana Grande. These songs were later included on her project Life After Love Pt. 2. On February 23, 2018, Monét released Life After Love, Pt. 1. This project included the song "Freak," which came out on February 9. A new version of "Freak" featuring rapper Bia was released on July 19, 2018, with a music video. The second part of the series, Life After Love, Pt. 2, was released on September 28, 2018.

Jaguar and Jaguar II Success

On April 1, 2019, Victoria Monét and Ariana Grande released the song "Monopoly" while Grande was on her Sweetener World Tour. This song was Monét's first to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 70.

In early 2020, Monét released the song "Moment" and then "Dive." Apple Music chose Monét as their "Up Next" artist in February 2020, highlighting her as a rising star. On June 19, Monét released "Experience" with Khalid and SG Lewis. She also announced her first big project, Jaguar. In an interview, Monét explained that Jaguar would be released in three parts, which would eventually come together to form her first studio album. The first part of Jaguar came out on August 7.

In December 2020, Monét released a special holiday version of Jaguar with instrumental music, called A Jaguar Christmas: The Orchestral Arrangements.

On February 1, 2021, Monét released the song "F.U.C.K." with a music video that looked like an old western movie. On August 5, 2021, she released another song called "Coastin," and its music video featured Rickey Thompson. In June 2022, Monét performed "Coastin" at the 22nd BET Awards pre-show. There, she announced she was working on a new project called Jaguar II, which would follow her previous EP.

On March 24, 2023, Monét released "Smoke" featuring Lucky Daye, her first new song since 2021. "Smoke" was followed by "Party Girls" (featuring Buju Banton) on May 10, and then "On My Mama" on June 16. A dancehall remix of "Party Girls" was released on May 26. In July 2023, Monét was featured on the cover of Clash magazine.

Songwriting for Other Artists

Victoria Monét has a long history of writing songs for many other artists.

For her work with Ariana Grande, she was nominated for two awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year for "7 Rings" and Album of the Year for Thank U, Next. The next year, she was nominated for Best R&B Song for helping to write Chloe x Halle's song "Do It."

Musical Style and Inspirations

Victoria Monét often says that R&B female artists like Janet Jackson, Destiny's Child, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Alicia Keys have greatly influenced her music and singing. She also gets pop inspiration from Michael Jackson and Coldplay, and soul and jazz influences from Earth, Wind & Fire and Sade. From her childhood, she was influenced by reggae music, listening to artists like Bob Marley and Buju Banton.

Monét has mentioned that artists like The-Dream, Ne-Yo, and Smokey Robinson inspire her because they have been successful both as songwriters and as performing artists. She also said that Beyoncé's Lemonade and Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy inspired her to create visual albums, which are albums with accompanying videos for each song.

Family Life

In December 2020, Victoria Monét announced that she and her boyfriend John Gaines were expecting their first child. On February 21, 2021, Monét gave birth to a daughter named Hazel Monét Gaines. In November 2023, Hazel became the youngest person ever nominated for a Grammy Award. She was nominated for her laughter on Monét’s song "Hollywood," which was up for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.

Discography

• Jaguar II (2023)

Tours

Headlining

• The Jaguar Tour (2023)

Supporting

• Fifth Harmony – 7/27 Tour (2016)
• Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman Tour (2017)

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Victoria Monét para niños