Victoria Monet McCants (born May 1, 1993), known professionally as Victoria Monet, is an American singer and songwriter. She became involved in performing arts at a young age, singing in the youth choir at her church and performing in a city dance team. She soon took to writing and began working with producer Rodney Jerkins (aka Darkchild). Currently signed to Atlantic Records, Monet recently released her debut EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 1 and has since released her follow up EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 2. She has also written songs for artists such as Fifth Harmony, Ariana Grande, Nas, T.I., GOOD Music, Lupe Fiasco, Chrisette Michele, Coco Jones, Chris Brown, Diddy Dirty Money, Janelle Monae, and Jasmine V. Early life Monet was born in Georgia, and moved to Sacramento, California as a child.[1] She was fascinated with performing arts, taking an interest in singing and dancing. Her first onstage experience came when she sang in her Catholic school holiday plays. She also sang in the youth choir at her local church but it was dance that initially gave her a sense of herself as a performer. By the time she became a student at the local performing arts high school, Monet had developed a grueling rehearsal schedule. She taught at two different dance studios and rehearsed with a local dance group, Boogie Monstarz, at Step One Dance Studios in Sacramento, while working at a local bank. Career 2014-2015: Early Songwriting Success Outside of dance rehearsals, Monet began exchanging poetry with an older cousin and found a new pa**ion. This soon translated into her writing her own music. Meanwhile, she had been educating herself on the production world, learning about the big names and making music at local recording studio. She learned about Rodney Jerkins (aka Darkchild) and decided to add him on Myspace.[2] Shortly after that, he invited her to come to Los Angeles and audition for a new girl group he was forming, Purple Reign (band).[3] The group landed a record deal with Motown a year later. The group was eventually dropped from the label. Soon her hooks and songs found their way to Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Nas, T.I., B.o.B, Chrisette Michele, Mario and Diddy Dirty Money, among others.[4] She was able to catch the attention of Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman who offered her a record deal.[1] On October 30, 2014, Monet released her debut EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 1 and on June 17, 2015, She released her follow up EP Nightmares & Lullabies - Act 2 under Atlantic Records.[5][6] 2016: 7/27 Tour Monet will join girl group Fifth Harmony on the North American leg of The 7/27 Tour beginning on July 25, 2016 as an opening act along with pop singer JoJo. Songwriting Monet has a long history of writing songs for other artists. In 2010, she helped pen "I Hate That You Love Me" by Diddy Dirty Money and went on to co-write songs such as "Honeymoon Avenue", "Daydreamin'", "Intro", "My Everything", "Only 1", "Cadillac Song", "Moonlight", "Be Alright", "Let Me Love You", "Leave Me Lonely", "I Don't Care", "Knew Better/Forever Boy" and "Step On Up" by Ariana Grande; "Memories Back Then" by T.I., B.o.B and Kendrick Lamar; "Drunk Texting" by Chris Brown; "Everlasting Love", "Them Girls Be Like", "Reflection", "We Know", and "No Way" by Fifth Harmony; "You Wouldn’t Understand" by Nas; "Sin City" by GOOD Music; "Visual Love" by Chrisette Michele; and "Live on Tonight" by T.I..