Earlier this year, American singer Victoria Monét released her debut album, Jaguar II — a continuation of her 2020 EP, Jaguar — to such critical acclaim that last week she secured a whopping seven Grammy nominations. Yesterday evening, on the closing night of her Jaguar tour, it was clear to see why.
Following a performance at London’s Roundhouse on Sunday evening, yesterday’s show delivered a ferocious final stop on a superstar-defining tour.
Monét brought the house down at Camden’s Koko with unparalleled energy, choreography and an evident hunger for world domination. Many of the TikTok generation will already have seen the best bits of the show circulating in viral videos. This anticipation only served to fuel the screams of the slightly feral crowd, which intensified throughout the gig.
After a gentle emergence with Moment and Big Boss, a sea of phones were raised to the opening, thumping beats of Ass Like That – a single from her 2020 instalment of Jaguar that pulled many of us out of lockdown complacency, and into workout mode.
Let me be clear, this was not a stand and sway sort of gig. Nor was it a bop your head in appreciation kind of show; it was a go wild, lose your mind, your limbs, and fail magnificently at keeping cool kind of performance.
Props are also due to the backup dancers. This was not a one, but a three woman show, the energy heavily amplified by two dancers who gave everything they had on the 26th leg of this marathon live run.
Marathons in mind, can you imagine running one and holding a tune at the same time? Monét’s breathwork is comparable to the likes of Beyoncé and Janet Jackson – the latter of whom is a great inspiration to the singer, and as it happens, was in the crowd at Sunday evening’s show. Similarly to Jackson, Monét has a subdued, soft-spoken disposition offstage, but becomes an unstoppable force from the moment the lights go up.
As with many artists currently on tour – Little Simz, Hozier, Madonna – Monét used her stage to comment on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. "Stop turning a blind eye to the genocide and the hate in this world", she sang during the bridge of Stop (Askin' Me 4Shyt), a sentiment received with loud cheers from the crowd.
During a show that lasted just over an hour, Monét had two outfit changes; first a trilby and cane, and second a cap and track pants. Though, for the most part, she wore a bejewelled bikini that showcased abs so impressive they could’ve been another backup dancer in their own right.
The only thing that sucked? The venue. What should have been a five star performance was limited by a relatively intimate room that the star had outgrown within 30 seconds of appearing on stage. That said, perhaps I should be grateful for experiencing Victoria Monét up close along with 1,500 other lucky punters. Undoubtedly, it’ll be arenas and beyond from now on.
