Victoria Monét has delivered her newest single “Experience” with Khalid and SG Lewis ahead of her highly anticipated project Jaguar coming July 31st. As the fourth single from her upcoming project, “Experience” represents the duality of joy and pain; acknowledging with growth comes a destiny for greatness but also not without intent to let go and make a change. The song comes at a time where Victoria hopes to bring solace and joy to those who are struggling. Khalid joins her on a second verse, and SG Lewis handles production, with added horns by frequent Victoria Monét collaborator Kyla Moscovich.
Victoria and Khalid on “Experience”: “To be honest, we’ve gone back and forth about releasing this song because of the disgusting and confusing state of the world. After a lot of thinking and feeling, we decided to continue with the plan to put it out, so we want to give some context on why. We’ve always used music as a form of escapism from troubling things. This song, though deep in subject matter, sonically simply feels joyful and celebratory. It’s important to us to highlight and celebrate Black joy and love in the middle of so much pain and trauma.
June is Black Music Month. It’s also Pride Month – and even though worldwide celebrations had initially been cancelled for public safety during a health crisis, I, Victoria, feel my queer identity is another important celebration for me. The LGBTQ+ community and the Black community (especially those of us who are part of both) have always struggled to be seen in our own ways. The struggles between the two are not the same, but they share the inspiring persistence in the relentless pursuit to be heard and seen, especially in difficult times like these.
Though it was a scary decision, we wanted to honor and represent that fearless part of our people by continuing with this release through it all. We hope this brings some solace and joy to you. We hope the double ended message of this song is heard: based on experience, we want change! We matter, we always have. Here’s to making changes and celebrating US the best ways we know how. Genuine love to you and yours”
Victoria has steadily built up excitement for her project Jaguar with releases including “Moment,” “Ass Like That,” “Dive” and now the healing “Experience.” The collection has received praise from Paper, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The FADER, The Face, NME, MTV and more solidifying this long-awaited project as an inevitable classic.
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