Queer R&B singer Victoria Monét has been crowned the best new artist of the year at the 2024 Grammys.
The singer was nominated for seven Grammys overall this year and won two golden gramophones prior to the telecast, including best R&B album and best engineered album (non-classical) for Jaguar II. Between Monét and fellow nominee Ice Spice, bisexual artists were well represented in the best new artist category, which also featured Gracie Abrams, Fred Again, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, and group The War and the Treaty.
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After taking the stage and thanking the staff at the arena handing out champagne, a gushing Monét went on to express gratitude to her mom for “raising this really bad girl,” and to her entire team.
“This award was a 15-year pursuit,” she said in her heartfelt acceptance speech. “I moved to LA in 2009 and I like to liken myself to a plant, who was planted and you can look at the music industry as soil. It can be looked at as dirty or it can be looked at as a source of nutrients and water. My roots have been growing underneath ground, unseen for so long. I feel like today, I’m sprouting, finally above ground.”
Monét came out as bisexual in 2018 and, in a recent profile in Variety, said that she was nervous to share her sexuality at the time for fear of backlash. “I thought that conforming would make me go further,” she says. “Being picturesque, straight… It almost felt like you didn’t want to add any more weights to your ankles trying to win a race. It’s like, you’re already a woman, you’re already Black — you’d better pick a struggle.”
In the same interview, she also spoke about a recent documentary that showcased the pressure music superstar Whitney Houston felt to hide her own private life. “I’m so sad she wasn’t able to do whatever that she wanted, and the world would [have] been fine,” she told Variety. “But I feel like since I have the privilege to do so, I should and just be honest. So music has been a playground for sexuality. And some things I don’t even express in words will just come out in music because it’s on my spirit and soul to do so.”
Monét was previously in a relationship with out R&B singer Kehlani, who featured on their song “Touch Me” off her 2020 EP Jaguar.
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