This year’s Grammys had the most women nominees ever. Women dominated most of the categories, with SZA leading the pack with nine nominations! There were a lot of memorable moments that transpired throughout the event, but one thing stood out to us. If you watched the Grammys, you saw Jay-Z accept the Dr. Dre Global Impact award for his contributions to the music industry. In his speech, he listed several times the Grammys have overlooked Black artists, including his wife Beyoncé. Beyoncé has won the most Grammys to date but has never won the most prestigious award, Album of the Year. In fact, the last Black woman to win that award was Lauryn Hill for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” 25 years ago.
Victoria Monet, 34, won one of the night’s most coveted awards, Best New Artist, in addition to Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album Non-Classical. The Best New Artist award is one of the highest honors and after 15 years of work, Monét secured that honor with her first studio album, “Jaguar II.” In her thank you speech she gave us a glimpse into all the hard work she put in prior to the win, saying, “This award was a 15-year pursuit. I moved to L.A. in 2009 and I like to liken myself to a plant, who was planted and you can look at the music industry as soil. It can be looked at as dirty or it can be looked at as a source of nutrients and water. My roots have been growing underneath ground, unseen for so long. I feel like today, I’m sprouting, finally above ground.”
Monét walked out of the Grammy’s a three-time Grammy winner! Before her Grammy Award-winning album, Monét was a songwriter behind a lot of major hits. She has been working behind the scenes for most of her music career. Monét most famously wrote for and collaborated with Ariana Grande on hits like “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings.”
It’s refreshing to see artists talk about the journey it took to get where they are. Most people see someone win a prestigious award and don’t think about the work it took to get there. This is especially prevalent today where people are obsessed with instant gratification. We don’t always hear the stories of staying the course. We could discuss all the obstacles in the way of getting to this point, especially as Black women, but the biggest lesson to take away from Monét’s win is to keep pursuing what you love regardless of how long it takes you.
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Coco Jones, 26, is another big winner of the night with a pretty complex journey in Hollywood. She shot to fame at 14 with the Disney movie Let it Shine. Jones was on track to follow the typical Disney channel route by getting a record deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records in 2012. By 2014, she was dropped from the label but now the R&B singer looks at that rejection as redirection. Jones told AFROTECH, “I had to learn through that rejection that there have to be other ways that I qualify myself as valuable, ’cause this is just too inconsistent for me.”
She then said, “That was probably one of the greatest noes of my life because I creatively got to find my voice and find who I am as an artist. And now I can sit here and be proud of the projects that I have because they are my truest version of myself ’cause I found myself.” Even though now Coco looks at that time as a redirection she’s not shy about saying she struggled financially a bit after. Fast forward to 2021, and she was making headlines again for being cast as Hilary Banks in the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reboot, Peacock’s “Bel-Air.”
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Jones received significant buzz and success from the show to the point where she decided to still pursue music, leading to her newest EP, “What I Didn’t Tell You.” Coco’s performance of her song from the EP, “ICU,” is what led to her winning the Grammy for Best R&B Performance.
Jones stayed the course despite multiple setbacks and this year she won big! She’s getting the recognition she rightfully deserves and it’s a testament to her grit and perseverance. Just like Monét, Jones kept working despite not seeing instant results. They both followed their dreams and didn’t give up. Their Grammy victories are cause for celebration and in the same token there should be better avenues for Black women to have success in the industry. There’s no excuse for decades to go by without a single Black woman winning in a specific category.
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But still, as usual, Black women are going to win despite the obstacles in their way. Monét and Jones are just two examples of staying the course and they prove that when it’s your time to shine, nobody can stop you.
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