Jaguars stalk in silence. Their spotted coats, once highly desirable in the fur industry, mimic the dappled shadows cast by broadleaves in dense rainforests, and their preference for hunting in low light allows them to move through the underbrush, and along the riverbanks, virtually undetected. Despite being the biggest cats in the Americas, their prey rarely notice them before their invisibility turns fatal: they're content to sit motionlessly until the opportune moment to strike. In this way, their patience can be seen as a weapon. It's in waiting that the jaguar becomes lethal.
Victoria Monét has been waiting for a long, long time. She did not foresee her lion's share of false starts. She did not predict when she signed her first record deal in 2009, and moved to Los Angeles on the brittle cusp of adulthood, that it would all fall apart and leave her broke before her girl group, spearheaded by the legendary R&B producer Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, had a chance to break out. She's been dancing professionally since she was touring California in high school, but didn't headline her own world tour until last autumn, years into her tenure as the electrifying opener for more prominent household names. Her first songwriting credit dates back to a Diddy Dirty Money concept album from 2010, but she didn't emerge into “the public consciousness” (that is, by the standards of the music industry) until just a few years ago, when the twinkling “thank u, next” – one of many luminous tracks she's written for Ariana Grande since they started collaborating in 2013 – was certified five-times platinum by the RIAA, and became her first song to reach number one on the charts. She has six EPs, one studio album, and some 15 singles attached to her name, but it wasn't until February, on stage at the 2024 Grammys, that she was honoured with the paradoxical distinction of best new artist.
“My roots have been growing underneath the ground, unseen, for so long,” she told the star-studded room, fighting back tears. “And I feel like today I'm finally sprouting above ground.”
At 34 years old, Monét is still young by the metric of most reasonable, thinking people, but in a cultural landscape that overvalues fast, algorithmic ascents and the most youthful of the youth, she reads as having
