Victoria Monét Talks VMAs, Ariana Grande, Postpartum Depression

Victoria Monét is opening up about how she’s been able to persevere in an industry that’s so tough to navigate.

Cosmopolitan recently revealed the cover of the Spring 2024 issue, The Sound of Now, “featuring three stars who are the voices of a generation”: Kali Uchis, Kim Petras and Victoria Monét.

Monét made headlines in 2023 when she explained why she didn’t perform at the MTV Video Music Awards that year. As fans clamored for the star to make an appearance at the show, she took to social media to let supporters know that if it was up to her, she would have performed, but her team was told it was “too early” in her career for such an opportunity.

“I see your advocation for me to have performed tonight and I’m so grateful to you!! Sincerely,” she wrote on X the night of the awards show. “My team was told it is ‘too early in my story’ for that opportunity so we will keep working!”

Having been nominated for seven Grammys and countless other awards, many fans were upset by MTV’s response to Monét’s team, rallying behind the singer.

In her Cosmopolitan cover story, the “On My Mama” singer talks about that snub, insisting that she tries not to take things like that personally.

“Someone who doesn’t have the full scope of this story might think, It’s too early,” she began. “But people who are in the know know the songwriting. They know the girl group I was in in 2009. They know I was an independent artist, supporting myself financially on tours.”

Monét continued,

“I had to wait for this big moment, and when I say ‘wait,’ I don’t mean sitting on my hands—I had to climb up a hill for a really long time. It’s giving Mount Everest.”

She also talked about the comparisons between her and her good friend Ariana Grande, who she’s written multiple songs with over the years.

“It’s weird that people are comparing [Ariana Grande and I] and are surprised that a song would sound like something that I wrote—because I did write it,” Victoria explained. “If the roles were reversed, if Ariana was a songwriter first, you may find me trying to hit a whistle tone or something. It’s a moot point to me, so I just let the internet do their thing.”

The singer went on to reveal that she struggled with postpartum depression after welcoming her daughter Hazel Monét in 2021. She explained that she wrote “On My Mama” to “transform [her] thoughts” and get her out of such a dark place.

“It’s a crazy juxtaposition: You’re supposed to be in one of the happiest moments of your life, but you’re sad and you can’t really explain it or fake it,” Victoria said. “It feels like a positive affirmation song to me. I want that subconsciously with a lot of my music.”

You can read her entire interview with Cosmopolitan here.