While Victoria Monét is grateful that penning songs with Ariana Grande has given her a leg up in the music industry, the songwriter is tried of always being asked questions about the Nickelodeon alum.
“I’m super thankful because [Ariana] as a friend had done so much to put my name in people’s mouths and make sure she’s crediting everyone that’s writing for her," said Monét, 34, who has worked on Grande's hits like "Thank U, Next."
"But in interviews, I just want to talk about my artistry and they’re like, ‘What’s Ariana’s favorite color?’ I’m like, 'Uh, you should ask her,'" she noted.
Nonetheless, the "On My Mama" crooner is still good friends with the Scream Queens actress — in fact, Monét has one of the rings Grande refers to in her "7 rings" track.
"I have two of them, because at one point I had lost one, and I was so devastated because I'm sometimes a bit irresponsible," she shared in a previous interview. "That was the old me, this is the new me, but Ariana felt so bad she got another one."
"Then I found the other one. So she's like, 'Just keep both,' so I have two, and I wear them stacked," added the star.
Feeling second-fiddle is something the mom-of-one has experienced for years, as even though she was helping write tracks for Grande, 30, and other well-known artists, her own music career wasn't taking off.
"At the time I questioned it so much: Like, what is it about me that’s so lackluster? Why aren’t people seeing me?" she recalled. "It was even to the point where I would sing demos and try to sound really great so rappers would keep me on the hook."
"I feel like maybe even that is a part of what was so hard. I had something to prove. It wasn’t just handed to me," Monét insisted. "So it’s all a part of why I think things are coming to fruition now: It’s just time. It’s almost like, ‘Alright girl — you didn’t give up. We’re going to give you something.’"
In 2023, the Grammy winner finally made her own headlines with her first album, Jaguar II.
"I correlated the music industry to the jungle. The jungle is a jaguar’s environment, but it’s not always the first thing you see. I felt that way about being behind the scenes in music," she told People of the title.
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Variety spoke with Monét about Grande.
