Winning Best New Artist at the Grammys is no small feat. But that’s what Victoria Monét did in 2024, powered by her album Jaguar II. But even though she might’ve won Best New Artist, she’s far from new: The 34-year-old Georgia native has been making music for years.
Let’s travel back to give you the full picture.
Monét loved music from a young age, moving with her family to Sacramento, California, where she sang in the church choir, formed a dance group in junior high and participated in a performing arts program in high school.
After graduating, she got picked up by Atlantic records–not just for her singing, but for her writing skills. Afterward, her career just continued to move forward, opening for the group Fifth Harmony, R&B singer JoJo and, ultimately, Ariana Grande.
Meanwhile, Monét released several EPs, wrote for many famous artists, had her first child in 2021 and then, in 2023, released her debut album called Jaguar II. And it’s from this Grammy-award winning R&B album that we get the single we’ll be discussing today: “On My Mama.”
This catchy song has been featured on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, and it finds Monét being confident in who she is. But she expresses this confidence in profane, overtly sexual and arrogant ways.
There’s nothing wrong with Monét’s confidence (“I look fly/I look good”). There’s nothing wrong with Monét appreciating her body or admiring her own looks. While you can obviously go overboard on self-admiration, I’d argue that being able to say all these things adds to a healthy body image.
But how Monét expresses these things matters.
She credits her self confidence to her mom (“When they say “She get it from her mama”/I’ma say, “You f–king right”), adding that she’s “done being the humble type” and plans to–vulgarly–flaunt all she’s got, along with others who are doing the same.
Her goal is to live life to the fullest (“Tell me, is you down?/’Cause I’m tryna go up tonight”) and obtain all she wants and feels she deserves (“I just want to live in a fantasy/I think we deserve it, right?/…Permanent ecstasy/Ladies is pimps tonight”).
And of course, she also talks a lot about her sex life (“sex game so stupid/…Might be too fine to hit it from behind”) .
The goal for Monét is to do what she wants and let people know that she looks her best while it’s happening.
The video for this track is really just Monét and friends dancing around in various places, all while wearing bras, exposing plenty of cleavage, sporting crop-tops and even wearing jeans that expose the sides of Monét’s thong.
I look good. I smell good. I am good … in all areas of my life.
This is the gist of Monét’s track.
It’s nothing new. Not in music and certainly not in the world of R&B, rap and hip-hop.
Sure, it’s catchy. It’s all over social media platforms as people dance along. It’s popular.
But we all know that popular doesn’t always mean “good.” And in this case, that’s certainly true when it comes to this profane, sexually charged and arrogant single.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
