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While many looked to Camila Cabello as the breakout star of the now-defunct Fifth Harmony, most of us could see the star power Normani Kordei illuminated long before her solo endeavors entered the pictured. We swooned to “Waves,” twerked to “Motivation,” and indulged our “Wild Side” as the starlet dropped singles in the years following the group’s split, waiting in bated breath for Normani to drop her debut album. However, we’d be waiting a while. The 26-year-old chatted with Bustle in a recent interview where she responded to one of the most asked questions her fanbase has, “Where’s the album, sis?”
She told the outlet, “Status of the album? Summer for sure. Tour? Coming.” After four years, Normani is ready to release her official body of work and we are all ears to listen. She continued, “I understand that [waiting] might not be the easiest in regards to supporting me, but I think that people really don’t understand, especially coming out of a girl group, what most may have thought was the perfect time for me to release — during ‘Motivation’ — was not it at all because I would’ve put out a body of the work that I wasn’t confident in.”
There was much speculation surrounding what was to blame for her debut album being pushed back over the years, but Normani said she needed growth and to undergo artist development in order to feel her best on stage. Fast-forward to now, the 26-year-old feels more than ready and assures that her debut is "definitely going to be worth the wait.” Keep reading for what else we learned from her conversation with Bustle.
Normani on the hardest part of being a solo artist and being in the public eye…
“All eyes are on you, whether it’s bad or good. And I would also say, not just even in terms of my solo endeavors, but I think being an artist, in general, is really hard, especially being in the public eye since I was 15. The last 10 years of my life have been really, really tough. Being a teenager and not being able to make the mistakes that teenagers typically would … in a sense [I was] not normal, from that point on to the rest of my life, honestly. So the sacrifice of it all I would definitely say…
“But it’s also a blessing. As ugly as it can be, it’s also just as beautiful. Not complaining, but it is hard.”
On her message to her fans for always showing support…
“A lot of people still don’t know my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted to go home, but the reason I was able to push through was because me being in the studio, and me working toward finishing this album, got her through her chemo and got her through that whole process, which was very, very devastating for our family. People are so quick to speak, but don’t know. To my fans, I’m appreciative because they’ve walked with me and they have been patient, and I know that it’s frustrating, but I would ask them to trust me.”
Normani on her single “Fair” and embracing vulnerability as a Black woman...
“I was going through a really tough breakup after two years, and I’m still feeling it even now, but I’m allowing myself to just kind of go through the process, just taking it day by day. It was very therapeutic, and in a sense, triggering every time I hear it, because it takes me back. But it also allowed me to be vulnerable, and that for me was really a breakthrough because I’ve never been comfortable with being vulnerable and not being okay in front of people.
"I feel like Black women, in particular, we’ve always been taught because of society and historic events, we’ve always had to suck it up and be strong and pull through and be perfect just to even get a little bit of credit.”
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Featured image by Arturo Holmes/MG22/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
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