Delayed Never Means Denied: Victoria Monet and Coco Jones take the Grammys.
posted by Kinaya Gibson | February 13, 2024 | In Arts and CultureOn February 4, the annually anticipated, biggest night in music event occurred: the 66th Grammys Awards. Artists every year submit their work to the Recording Academy of the United States to be considered for nomination to win a Grammy award. These awards, for some artists and their supporters, solidify their success.
Two black women, who have been making a name for themselves in this industry for over a decade, finally received their awaited accolades: Victoria Monet and Coco Jones. Monet, nominated for seven awards, took the year by storm with her album Jaguar II and with her number one Billboard record and video for “On My Mama.”
However, on September 12, 2023, fans of Monet were shocked to see that she was not performing at the Video Music Awards on MTV, even with the instant massive success of the music video the month prior, which currently has 34 million views. Monet released a post on X (formerly Twitter) stating that: “I see your advocation for me to have performed tonight and I’m so grateful to you!! Sincerely! My team was told it is ‘too early in my story’ for that opportunity so we will keep working!” The VMAs were surely mistaken because not long after, Monet would be sweeping Grammy nominations, with seven nominations and three wins, even securing her daughter, Hazel Monet Gaines, a nomination as the youngest person ever nominated, at two years old in the best traditional R&B performance category for Victoria Monet’s song “Hollywood.”
Monet in her acceptance speech told a story about how she had a binder full of music, and she took it to a meeting to a record label as an independent artist with no team. She went in with hopes to get signed, but the binder never received attention until her manager, Rachelle Jean-Louis who worked at the label, found it, and decided to see the potential in Monet by leaving the label and becoming her manager.
Coco Jones also got her moment to shine and grow, after working in the industry since she was nine years old. Jones made a household name for herself in 2012 when the hit Disney movie, Let it Shine premiered.
However, longtime fans of Jones wondered where she had gone or why she wasn’t a huge star afterward. In a YouTube video made in 2020, Jones decided to finally address what happened to her and the difficulties she faced getting cast and her music out. Not long after, Jones was cast as Hilary in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remake, Bel-Air. On November 4, 2022, she released her EP “What I Didn’t Tell You” Achieving a Billboard number one song “I C U” on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Jones was nominated for five awards and took home the win for best R&B Performance for “I C U.” Although she was not able to hit the stage and give a speech due to the award being given at the premiere ceremony which is not televised
Jones told Vibe Magazine that “It feels like all of the uncertainty can really be answered by God’s timing for you.”
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