Victoria Monet on Wanting to Start Her Dream Album With Kaytranada & Why There Won’t Be a ‘Jaguar III’
Imagine the thrill of receiving a text from Janet Jackson. On top of that, Beyoncé gives you flowers after your rousing tribute to Usher at the BET Awards. That’s the current reality for three-time Grammy-winner Victoria Monét, who’s still basking in the success of her debut album Jaguar II after it reshaped her decade-long career.
“It’s insane,” says Monét hours before her Sunday (July 28) set at Broccoli Fest. “I just wonder if I could time travel. I would want to hear from the little kid version of myself, and how excited that little girl would be — because I still feel like that person. I would want to hear from her, like, ‘How do you feel right now? Because — can you believe that this is your grown-up life?’ It’s really, really special to me to hear from people you look up to.”
Always touted as a gifted songwriter, Monét is enjoying her second act as an in-demand performer as well. After a hellacious performance at Coachella, which saw fans chirping about how she deserved a headlining slot, Monét fueled conversations again at this year’s BET Awards when her and Teyana Taylor’s titillating tribute to Usher’s “Bad Girl” had social media in a tizzy.
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The homages didn’t stop there, as Monét recently released the video for her Kaytranada-produced song “Alright” from Jaguar II. Teaming up with director Dave Meyers and choreographer Sean Bankhead, Monét channeled the spirits of Michael and Janet Jackson to reimagine their classic videos “Smooth Criminal” and (of course) “Alright,” respectively, for her dance-centric video.
Billboard spoke to Monét about paying tribute to her heroes, wanting to start her dream album with Kaytranada, and playing bartender for Megan Thee Stallion during their studio session.
What made you decide to pay homage to Michael and Janet Jackson for your “Alright” video?
When we first worked on the “Alright” music video, that wasn’t the plan. I told Sean Bankhead that I knew the type of dance that I wanted to do was more of a house-style — using footwork. When we got into the studio, the movements just started coming. We were like, “We should definitely wear suits.” When the suits came, there was one that was a little bit short and you could see my socks. I had my socks from rehearsal and we were like, “Oh. I think we should just go there,” — ’cause we’re talking about my favorite artists of all-time. So let’s just lean in, no pun intended, and show the respect that they deserve. It was definitely a Jackson-inspired video.
Did Janet hit you after the video came out?
She did, but not about the video, though. We exchanged numbers — and honestly, I gave her my number. I went to see her Essence set. So after Essence, I was able to see her again and I gave her my number. I just been waiting on her to text me and just a couple of days ago. I realized she texted me. [Laughs.] I was completely shocked, and I was like, “How did I miss this text?”
I’m going to add a little pressure on you with this question, since you spoke on wanting it to happen before — have you and Kaytranada been able to talk about finally doing this album together?
You know what? I still think that’s the goal. We do have enough music to have a project, to be honest, but if we’re going to work on one, I definitely want to go in with that intention — because the music we have is just accumulated from [old] sessions. If we make a project, I want it to feel cohesive, and it’s a certain energy that we put into it. I wanna work on so many more songs with him and narrow them down to the best ones. I would love that. He’s incredible. He got that energy.
Jaguar was originally supposed to be a three-part project. Because of the success of Jaguar II, would you entertain the idea of a trilogy again?
I just felt like after the space between the two projects — ’cause I didn’t expect them to be two years apart — I felt that the Jaguar story had kind of subsided, especially with Jaguar II winning Grammys, I’m like, “How do I come back with a third one?” It kind of felt like the ribbon on the present. There will be a Jaguar II deluxe, so you could look at that like kind of the third little part — but technically, there will be no Jaguar III. I think it’s time to get out of the jungle and see the city, maybe. [Laughs.]
Do you have an idea when the deluxe will come?
Soon. Pretty soon.
You’ve had some dope features this year with Bryson Tiller (“Persuasion”) and Megan Thee Stallion (“Spin”). What has been like for you to get back into that zone?
You know, it feels like old Vic. Because a lot of my early, early features — starting in like 2013 — my very first feature was with Nas, then T.I., Meek Mill and B.o.B. I was the hook girl. A lot of rappers would call me for hooks. I feel like I’m back in that bag. And it’s nice to have collaborations — especially with Meg, because I’ve wanted that for a really long time.
I heard you played the role of bartender in the studio when y’all made “Spin.”
I was really just trying to make it a really fun experience. I think maybe trying to create the party environment that we would hear our record in. Even though it was just me, her and the engineer, I just wanted her to feel that uptempo energy that you feel. So I came into the studio with the ingredients for an espresso martini, but with tequila. So that’s how we do our espresso martini — and it worked! I feel like we got the great vibes going and I loved it. I wanna see it [played at] Magic City, to be honest. That’s my goal. [Laughs.]
