Victoria Monet

Victoria Monet McCants (born May 1, 1993), is an American singer and songwriter from Sacramento, California. She became involved in the performing arts at a young age, singing in the youth choir at her church and performing in a city dance team. Monet soon took to writing and began working with producer Rodney Jerkins (aka Dark Child). Currently signed to Atlantic Records, Monet recently released her debut EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 1^[1] and has written songs for artists such as Ariana Grande, Nas, T.I., GOOD Music, Lupe Fiasco, Chrisette Michele, Coco Jones, Chris Brown, Diddy Dirty Money, Janelle Monae, and Jasmine V.

Early life

Monet was born on May 1 in Georgia and later moved to Sacramento, California as a child.^[2] Monet was fascinated with performing arts, taking an interest in singing and dancing. Her first onstage experience came singing at her catholic school holiday plays. She also sang in the youth choir at her local church but it was dance that initially gave her a sense of herself as a performer. By the time she became a student at the local performing arts high school, Monet had developed a grueling rehearsal schedule. She taught at two different dance studios and rehearsed with a local dance group, Boogie Monstarz, at Step One Dance Studios in Sacramento, CA--all while working at a local bank.

Career

Outside of dance rehearsals, Monet began exchanging poetry with an older cousin and found a new passion. This soon translated into her writing her own music. Meanwhile, Monet had been educating herself on the production world, learning about the big names and making music at local recording studio. She learned about Rodney Jerkins (aka Darkchild) and decided to add him on Myspace.^[3] Shortly after that, he invited her to come to Los Angeles and audition for a new girl group he was forming.^[4] The group landed a record deal with Motown a year later. The group was eventually dropped from the label.

Soon her hooks and songs found their way to Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Nas, TI, B.O.B, Chrisette Michele, Mario and Diddy Dirty Money, among others.^[5] She was able to catch the attention of Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman who offered her a record deal.^[2] On October 30, 2014, Monet released her debut EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 1 under Atlantic Records.^[6][7]

Songwriting

Monet has a long history of writing songs for other artists. In 2010, she helped pen "I Hate That You Love Me" by Diddy Dirty Money and went on to co-write songs such as "My Everything" by Ariana Grande, "Only 1" by Ariana Grande, "Cadillac Song" by Ariana Grande, "Memories Back Then" by T.I., B.o.B and Kendrick Lamar, "Drunk Texting" by Chris Brown ft. Jhene Aiko, "Reflection" and "Everlasting" by Fifth Harmony, "You Wouldn’t Understand" by Nas, "Sin City" by GOOD Music, "Visual Love" by Chrisette Michele, and "Love on Tonight" by T.I. amongst others. She is currently working on Ariana Grande's 3rd studio album.

Discography

Singles

• 2013: "Malice In Wonderland"
• 2014: "Would You Wait"
• 2014: "Made In China" (feat. Ty Dolla Sign)

Featured in

• 2012: "Live On Tonight" (T.I. feat. Victoria Monet)
• 2013: "You Wouldn't Understand" (Nas feat. Victoria Monet)
• 2014: "About My Issue (T.I. feat. Victoria Monet and Nipsey Hussle)
• 2015: "A Little More" (Machine Gun Kelly feat. Victoria Monet)

Production/songwriting

References