Victoria Monét’s debut album “Jaguar II,” drops today and the famed singer and songwriter is sharing details about how motherhood impacted her music. While speaking with Teen Vogue about her album, Monét disclosed that she was breastfeeding while recording the album. In the interview, Monét shares that her 2-year-old daughter, Hazel, is her biggest fan and the source of her personal growth.
“I was bringing her and breastfeeding in the studio and trying to balance the new mindset with my old life, what I’ve been doing and connecting with,” she told Teen Vogue. She continued saying, “It did take me a second mentally; I was having a hard time,” says Monét. “I did have postpartum depression, and at a time that’s supposed to be the happiest time of your life, my hormones were just not allowing for that space — so that was coming out in song form.”
Changes and Childbearing
In an interview with Complex, Monét also shared that since giving birth to her child, her voice dramatically changed. She noticed her pitch go from a high tone to a deeper, rougher key. “Having a child changes a lot about your body, but one thing that changed for me was my voice. Growing up, I had a high pitch and was soft spoken,” she told Complex. “Having my daughter, I feel like I went through puberty, because my voice is a little bit deeper and more round if I was to describe it now. It’s just been really interesting. It’s still new for me. So I just try to learn and work with it and do what feels right for my voice now. Some songs that I used to sing, I’m like, ”Can we lower the key?”
A Highly Anticipated Return
Monét has worked as a songwriter crafting songs for stars like Ariana Grande and Chloe x Halle, but the “Smoke” singer has recently shot into mainstream focus for her luscious vocals, her energetic performances and her culturally inspired music videos. The music video for her latest single, “On My Mama” has seen over 2.4 million views and trended on Twitter with many praising her for references to various parts of Black culture.
Reviews for her album has also been mostly positive. Rollingstone’s Mankaprr Conteh writes that “Monét’s heart, discipline, and visceral grooves make Jaguar II the crowning crystallization of an R&B resurgence that has been in the air since SZA’s SOS began to dominate the charts last December.”