Victoria Monét surprised by her mother at the 2024 Billboard Women in Music Awards

Victoria Monét shared a special mom moment after winning the 2024 Billboard Women in Music competition.

The 34-year-old Rising Star honoree performed her hit single “On My Mama” on Billboard Women in Music at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California on Wednesday. After ending, Monét began walking across the stage to simply accept Billboard’s trophy and chat with those in attendance. The singer was shocked when she saw her mother, L’Tanya Chestang Cubit, presenting her with the Rising Star Award.

“She didn’t tell me she was coming, y’all!” Monét told the audience, giving her proud mother an enormous hug.

Cubit happily talked about her daughter, highlighting Monét’s recent achievements — including earning three Grammy nominations and an NAACP Image Award — to the YouTube Theater audience.

“I remember when you were a little girl and you were embarrassed to tell the teacher that you didn’t have a seat,” Cubit said to Monét, holding her hand. “So you sat along with your knees bent and your legs crossed and pretended you had a chair. Baby girl, not only do you may have a seat at the table, you may have it front and center.

The delighted singer then accepted the award and gave her own speech in which she thanked her mother for appearing on her behalf.

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“It’s one thing to receive an award, but to receive it from someone you’ve known your whole life is truly amazing,” Monét said of Cubit. “Thank you so much for being here.”

The singer and mother of 1 went to discuss her profession and the way she finally achieved stardom after years in the music industry. Over the years, Monét worked as a songwriter, writing songs for other artists comparable to Ariana Grande, while also pursuing her own artistic dreams. In 2023, Monét finally received her flowers and had her hard-earned singing breakthrough.

“When I think about what a star is, the definition is a self-luminous thing that radiates energy from its own internal sources,” Monét said in her award acceptance speech. “Some of the sources I tapped into internally were probably passion, hard work and focus.”

“I also know that when you look at any star, it is surrounded by millions of other stars in the night sky. It’s all with you,” she continued. “There are so many stars in this room, behind the scenes, behind the curtains. I want to shout out to all of you women here who sometimes have a thankless job.”

“I am fully aware that not every star can be seen with the naked eye,” Monét concluded, “which is why I want to shine a light on my team tonight. …I really appreciate this award. Because what is a star without someone to recognize it and confirm its existence?”