We know Victoria Monét as a confident, bad ass bicon, but she wasn’t always confident in her choice to be out and proud. The singer recently spoke to Variety, revealing that she hesitated to come out publicly.
“I thought that conforming would make me go further. Being picturesque, straight…” she said. “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.”
Luckily, Monét found the bravery to be her true self, and to reflect her sexuality in her lyrics. In “Smoke,” she sings, “Pre-rolls in the bag, who should I shotgun?/To the left or the right, ‘long as it rotate/It’s a bisexual blunt, it can go both ways.”
Monét also spoke to Variety about Whitney Houston’s (closeted) sexuality and how her journey has been influenced by the late mega-artist.
“I’m so sad she wasn’t able to do whatever that she wanted, and the world would [have] been fine,” she said. “Just do and love who you love. And so if I have the ability to talk about it without so much backlash… I know there are special people who hate it. 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.”
In August, Monét made our hearts beat faster when the bisexual R&B singer brought back the best of early 2000s in her music video for her song “On My Mama.” The video opens with Monét rocking baggy low-rise jeans, a red thong, a red bra top, an impossibly cropped jacket, and a red LA Dodgers flat-brim hat. She walks through a house party with her crew before cutting to a parking lot where she and her back-up dancers are dancing on top of low-riders with truck beds. The early 2000s R&B artist-inspired (and may we add, queer-coded) outfits don’t stop there; next she’s all dolled up with her girls in a classic basketball jersey dress and gets down with the boys in mega-oversized white tee, varsity jacket, and jeans.
The song even caught the attention of former President Obama, who listed “On My Mama” on his favorite songs of 2023 roundup.
Monét is up for 7 Grammy nominations, including for Record of the Year, Best R&B Album, and Best New Artist.
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