Koko, London
Channelling Beyoncé and the Supremes yet emphatically her own artist, the songwriter to the stars turned multiple Grammy nominee steps into the limelight
The night begins with darkness, and a loud growl that rebounds around a venue lit by phone screens. As the stage lights come up, the American R&B singer Victoria Monét manifests out of nowhere, draped in a hooded cloak, camouflaged by the lights.
Her most recent hit album, this summer’s Jaguar II, follows its 2020 predecessor in being named for the jungle animal whose principal characteristics are its stealth and the strength of its bite. The stage – way too small for this windswept production – is dressed in verdant plant life, and when Monét shrugs off her robe to reveal a shiny golden two-piece outfit, it all feels redolent of the Amazonian glamour of 00s R&B.