At the 66th Grammy Awards, Victoria Monét won for best new artist and best R&B album, as well as best produced album. She is the first Black woman to win the award for her co-engineered major-label debut, Jaguar II, and the fourth woman overall to win the coveted Grammy, following Imogen Heap, Trina Shoemaker and Emily Lazar.
The honoree has written and produced singles for Ariana Grande, Blackpink, Chloe x Halle, Chris Brown, and herself. According to the 34-year-old, they have been producing for a longer time than they realized. I had no idea that the concept didn’t have to apply to actually playing an instrument or pushing a certain button.”
“Quincy Jones’ production style involves orchestrating and putting together what he deems necessary, often without touching anything. So, for as long as I can remember, if I’m engaged in something, I’ve been producing it — whether it’s a dance performance in high school, I’m like, ‘How about we fade the music here, put this song with this song?’ and changing things around. So when I walked into the studio, it was natural for me to express my thoughts on the path I thought the music should take.”
Monét’s six-year relationship with a producer, which included living together and collaborating on music, motivated her to begin producing beats.
“He said, ‘You need to record yourself.'” I was like, “Okay, just show me.” I’ll make sure to document it. I connected the mic to Pro Tools and began recording and manipulating my audio, attempting to mix and balance it out. “Before that, it was GarageBand, trying to record from my laptop and figure out all of the technicalities,” she explained.
She stated it increased her experience and that she ran in to assist when she went to a studio and the producer didn’t know how to use certain instruments.
The trailblazer listed several mentors, including Imogen Heap. “[She] is self-contained, and she’ll go in and record herself, and she can do it from beginning to end. I think LaShawn Daniels has really inspired me as an engineer and vocal producer, so I know a lot more about how I want things to sound when they’re layered and panning vocals, among other things.”
A recent USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative research found that women make up less than 3% of music industry engineers.
However, Monét sees a promise of more female engineers in the male-dominated sector, adding, “[I’m] seeing more and more female engineers, more female Black engineers, even as young as children. Girls produce Beats is a program that teaches young girls how to engineer; they educate them how to produce beats and utilize specific beat programs, and then they go out into the community and perform and give seminars. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this, but it reflects where we are in the process.”
She expressed her desire to see more legendary female engineers. I know there are many, but I believe that because of gender and judgment, people tend to regard them less. I believe when you walk in and find a female engineer seated there, people say, ‘Oh, where’s the engineer?’ And they go, ‘Right here.’ [It’s about] seeing it more, normalizing it, and creating chances for women, particularly Black female engineers.”