Victoria Monét

Outside of dance rehearsals, Monét began exchanging poetry with an older cousin and found a new passion. This soon translated into her writing her own music. Meanwhile, she had been educating herself on the production world, learning about producers, and making music at a local recording studio. She learned about Rodney Jerkins (aka Darkchild) and decided to add him on Myspace.[2] Shortly after that, he invited her to come to Los Angeles and audition for a new girl group he was forming, Purple Reign.[3][4] The group landed a record deal with Motown a year later, but was dropped before releasing any music. After the group's disbandment, Monet turned to songwriting to earn money while she waited for her own music career to build up.[5] The first song she worked on was a track for Diddy Dirty Money's 2010 album, Last Train to Paris.[6] She continued to write song hooks and sang the demos herself before sending them out. Her hope was that the labels would like her version enough that they would keep her on the track as a feature.[2][7]

Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman heard one of her demos in a meeting and offered her a record deal later that day.[1][2] Even though she was signed, Monet acknowledged that her songwriting "took off" before her music, while she was working on both.[5] Her songwriting remained her main form of income during the beginning of her music career.[7] On October 30, 2014, Monet released her debut EP Nightmares & Lullabies: Act 1 and on June 17, 2015, she released her follow-up EP Nightmares & Lullabies – Act 2 under Atlantic Records.[8][6] Monet chose the name as it represented the sound of the EPs: a dark beat mixed with soft melodies.[2]

Following the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and the Dallas Police shooting, Monét released "Better Days" with Ariana Grande on July 10, 2016.[9] Monét joined girl group Fifth Harmony on the North American leg of the 7/27 Tour, which began on July 25, 2016, as an opening act along with pop singer JoJo.[10] Grande joined Monet on one of the tour dates to perform "Better Days."[11] On September 22, 2016, Grande announced on Twitter that Monét will serve as an opening act along with British girl group Little Mix on the North American leg of the Dangerous Woman Tour. Monét also supported Grande on the European leg of the tour alongside rapper Bia.

In 2016, Monét released the promotional single "Do You Like It" which was followed by the single "Ready", which was released while on tour with Ariana Grande in April 2017. Both singles would later be included on Life After Love Pt. 2. On February 23, 2018, Monét released the first half of her "Life After Love" series, Life After Love, Pt. 1. The project features the single "Freak", which was released on February 9 with the project's pre-order. A remix of the song[12] featuring previous tour-mate Bia, was released on July 19, 2018 alongside a music video.[13] The latter half of the "Life After Love" series, Life After Love, Pt. 2, was released on September 28, 2018, and was preceded by the single "New Love".[14]

On April 1, 2019, Victoria Monét and Ariana Grande released the single "Monopoly" while Ariana Grande was on her Sweetener World Tour.

In late 2019, Monét released the single "Ass Like That". The song served as the lead single to her upcoming debut project. In early 2020, Monét released the single "Moment" followed by the promotional single "Dive". Monét was announced as Apple Music's Up Next artist in February 2020.[15] On June 19, Monét released the single "Experience" with Khalid and SG Lewis and announced her debut project, Jaguar.[16] In an interview with Apple Music, Monét disclosed that Jaguar will be released in three separate parts which will eventually come together to form her debut studio album.[17] Part one of Jaguar was released on August 7.[18] On October 4, Monét released the song "Politics" exclusively on SoundCloud, leaving a portion of the song fully instrumental, so listeners could add their own feature verse to the song.[19] On October 8, Monét released a remix of the Jaguar track "Touch Me" featuring American singer-songwriter Kehlani.[20]

On February 1, 2021, she released the single "F.U.C.K.", serving as the lead single to the second part of her debut project.[21]