The 2024 Grammy Awards crowned its Best New Artist on Sunday, February 4, giving music fans one to watch for years to come.
Victoria Monét won the honor, which recognizes an artist who has had a breakthrough year with a notable impact on the music industry. Other nominees in the category included Gracie Abrams, Fred again.., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, and The War and Treaty.
“Thank you to the champagne servers tonight, that’s my first thank you,” Monét, 34, joked during her speech before getting to her serious shout-outs. “Thank you to the Recording Academy voting members, this is because of you guys. You pressed that button, you were in your emails, thank you so much.”
Monét also thanked her mom and dedicated her award to all the dreamers out there. She noted that the achievement was a 15-year pursuit and compared her journey to the growth of a plant. Monét explained that she started her career as an independent artist but didn’t find success until her current manager discovered her demo and signed her to a different label.
Monét ended her speech by gushing about her fellow nominees.
“I’d like to thank all the other nominees in the category because best is subjective, right? … I think we’re all the best,” she shared. “When you look at what best means introspectively, I’d like to say that is what rings true.”
The lineup was stacked, with no obvious frontrunner in the field. Monét landed the most overall nods of any artist in the category, with seven. In addition to Best New Artist, she was up for Record of the Year, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, making her the only act on the list to receive a nomination in another mainstream category. The only artist to receive more nods than Monét at the 2024 ceremony was SZA, with nine.
“It feels like a long time coming,” Monét told Billboard in November 2023 of her Best New Artist nomination. “It’s such a great validation of all the sacrifices, the hard work and the ‘no’s’ that I received.”
Jones followed Monét with four additional nominations, including Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album. Ice trailed with three more nods for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media. Fred was up for two additional awards for Best Dance/Electronic Recording and Best Dance/Electronic Music Album.
Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty each received one more nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best American Roots Song, respectively.
While Kahan and Abrams both achieved commercial success in the past year, they were only recognized in the Best New Artist category.
Some of the most popular acts in music history have won the accolade since it was first handed out in 1959. The Beatles, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Carrie Underwood, Adele, Sam Smith, Chance the Rapper and Dua Lipa are among those who took home the award in previous decades. More recently, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo and Samara Joy received the honor in the years between 2020 and 2023.
