Victoria Monét Gets Emotional After Being Named Best New Artist at the 2024 Grammys: 'This Award Was a 15-Year Pursuit'

Gracie Abrams, Fred again.., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan and The War and Treaty were also in the running for best new artist

Victoria Monét is adding this moment to her memory!

The "On My Mama" singer, 34, won the award for best new artist at the 2024 Grammys on Sunday night.

Last year's winner Samara Joy presented the award, calling 2024's class of nominees "eclectic and extremely worthy."

In one of the most competitive categories of the evening, Monét was up against Gracie Abrams, Fred again.., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan,  and The War and Treaty.

The R&B performer kicked off her acceptance speech by thanking the champagne servers and the voting members of the Recording Academy.

But she became emotional as she recounted her long journey to reaching success.

"Thank you to my mom," she continued. "A single mom raising this really bad girl. Thank you so much. I just want to say to everybody who has a dream, I want you to look at this as an example.
Thank you God."

"This award was a 15-year pursuit. I moved to LA in 2009. And I like to liken myself to a plant who was planted and you can look at the music industry as soil and it can look to be looked at as dirty or can be looked at as a source of nutrients and water. And my roots have been growing underneath ground unseen for so long. And I feel like today I'm sprouting finally above ground."

Related: Victoria Monét Brings Her 2½-Year-Old Daughter Hazel to 2024 Grammys After She Became Youngest Nominee

With her 2023 album Jaguar II, Monét the Grammy Awards by storm, becoming the second-most nominated artist with seven nominations.

She got her start writing for stars like Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Fifth Harmony, and was just waiting for the right moment to "pounce."

"I correlated the music industry to the jungle," Monét said. "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. It took a lot of time, but I was happy to do it."

Abrams, 24, released her debut album, Good Riddance, in February of last year. She opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in 2023 and Olivia Rodrigo on her 2022 Sour Tour.

Abrams, whose parents are  J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath, was featured on Kahan's single "Everywhere, Everything" in December. Abrams said in a statement that she was “so honored” to be joining the rising star on his latest release.

"what is happening," she wrote on Instagram after she learned of her best new artist nomination.

Fred again.., a 30-year-old DJ and producer, was propelled to fame with the release of the Actual Life trilogy and has taken the dance music scene by storm since.

The DJ, born Frederick Gibson, began releasing music in 2019 and worked with big names like Ed Sheeran, BTS and Ellie Goulding in years prior as a producer.

He also has two nominations in the best dance/electric recording category, while Actual Life 3 was nominated for best dance/electric music album.

Ice Spice, a 24-year-old rapper, skyrocketed to fame when her song, “Munch (Feelin’ U),” went viral on TikTok in 2022. She released her first EP Like…? in January of last year, in which a collab on “Gangsta Boo” with Lil TJay earned the rapper her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The “Deli” artist also won the best new artist title at the 2023 MTV VMAs in September, where she teared up and grew emotional as she accepted the award.

In May of last year, Ice Spice was tapped by Taylor Swift for a remix of "Karma" who brought her onstage as a surprise guest during her Eras Tour stop at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The "In Ha Mood" artist, born Isis Naija Gaston, is also nominated for best rap song and best song written for visual media for her collaboration with Nicki Minaj, "Barbie World," off the Barbie: The Album soundtrack.

Jelly Roll has been on a roll since the release of his album Ballads of the Broken and his single "Son of a Sinner," which became his first top-5 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. In 2023, he continued the success with a new album, Whitsitt Chapel, and hit songs including "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson and "Wild Ones" with Jessie Murph.

Most recently, he's taken country music by storm with his song "I Need a Favor," which he performed at the 2023 CMA Awards alongside Wynonna Judd.

He is also nominated for best country duo/group performance for his collaboration with Wilson.

Related: Victoria Monét Says 2½-Year-Old Daughter's Grammy Nomination Is 'Really Magical' (Exclusive)

Jones, a 24-year-old singer and actress, got her start in the Disney Channel film Let It Shine. Since then, she let her music talents shine in her 2022 EP, What I Didn't Tell You.

Jones was nominated in four additional categories at this year's award show: best R&B album for the project, best R&B performance and best R&B song for her hit single “ICU,” and best traditional R&B performance for her Babyface collaboration "Simple."

“I was asleep on a plane, and you have your wifi on, so iMessages still work. I kept feeling like this vibration, and I was like, ‘Geez, this plane is going through some turbulence,'" the musician and Bel-Air star told PEOPLE of the moment she found out about her nominations. “Then I look at my phone, and I had all these notifications saying, ‘Congratulations!’ Of course, I was geeking.”

Kahan, 27, has made folk music cool again with the release of his 2022 hit album Stick Season. Since its release, he scored his first charting singles, earned an Olivia Rodrigo cosign and collaborated with Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves.

"It keeps getting more crazy as more time goes by, and I'm very, very excited that people still care," Kahan told PEOPLE in October. "To be a year out and have people still enjoying it, excited about it and giving a s--- about me, it's pretty fun, and I'm just grateful."

The "Dial Drunk" musician has toured extensively since the album's release, and he'll continue performing around the world through at least summer 2024 on the We'll All Be Here Forever Tour.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The War and Treaty, which consists of Michael Trotter Jr., 41, and his wife, Tanya Trotter, 50, have strayed from traditional country music by implementing gospel, rock, R&B and Americana. They call it "the sound of our love."

Both Trotters have songwriting backgrounds, and Michael is particularly prolific; they share writing credits on all but one of the tracks on their 2023 major-label debut album, Lover’s Game.

In addition to their best new artist award, the duo was also nominated for best American roots song for "Blank Page."

See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 66th annual Grammy Awards as they're broadcasting live on CBS from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.