Victoria Monét’s best new artist Grammy was a long time coming

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — There is a reason Ariana Grande celebrated Victoria Monét on social media for winning at the Grammys on Sunday night.

Monét has long been a part of the music industry, just more behind the scenes. That anonymity is now no longer possible with her viral hit “On My Mama,” the video of which showed off her skills as a dancer.

The singer, 34, gave a nod to the work it took her to get there during her emotional acceptance speech for best new artist. As she seemed to hold back tears, she said, “I just want to say to everybody who has a dream, I want you to look at this as an example.”

“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,” Monét said. “You can look at it as dirty or it can be looked at as a source of nutrients and water. And my roots have been growing underneath the ground unseen for so long. And I feel like today I’m sprouting finally above ground.”

The Atlanta native who grew up in Sacramento spent years penning hits for several major stars, including Grande, Brandy and Chris Brown. She released music independently before finally garnering a swell of attention as an artist for her 2020 EP “Jaguar.”

In interview with Vulture over the summer, Monét said she has no regrets about the amount of time it took for her to break out on the scene.

“As much as I was ready the first year I moved to LA to be an artist, it wasn’t the time,” she told the publication. “It’s just part of my story. Everything that I was doing was necessary.”

On the story portion of her verified Instagram account, Grande wrote in a congratulatory note that Monét deserved the best R&B album Grammy she won for “Jaguar II” “one million times over.”

“You have worked so hard and given so much of yourself to this industry for so, so long while quietly being in your own league,” Grande wrote. “We’ve talked about this happening since the day we met and over many tour bus sleepovers. It is the greatest joy to see the goodness you have poured into others, into your collaborators (I am so incredibly lucky to be one of them) over the years pouring right back into you. Happy does not being to cover it.”

The pair performed together on the single “Monopoly” released in 2019. “Jaguar II” also won the best engineered album, non-classical Grammy on Sunday night.

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