(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOTIVATION")
NORMANI: (Singing) I'mma break you off, let me be your motivation to stay and give it tonight. And‚ baby‚ turn around...
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Normani dropped hot singles, like "Motivation" and "Love Lies," years ago. This made fans hungry for her debut album. But they had to wait until now, and for good reason.
NORMANI: I've really been tested spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically - like, God, what do you want me to see in all this? Is this project going to come out? Is it going to see the light of day? And it did. And so I never gave up on myself, and that to me means more than any chart or any accolade.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD SIDE")
NORMANI: (Singing) I'm ready to pull up on you. I'm ready to do what I do. Baby, what you wanna do? Shoot your shot 'cause I'm bulletproof - yeah. Load it up and doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
RASCOE: Normani's new album is called "Dopamine." It comes four years after her mother's breast cancer returned, and three years after her father was diagnosed with cancer as well. Normani says her focus during that time was on her family, but music was a helpful outlet.
NORMANI: I feel like the music allowed me a sense of escapism and not only myself, but also my parents. Like, they needed that in order to look forward to something outside of what the circumstances were. So it's just - it's been a lot of, I would say, roadblocks for sure, but I'm granting myself grace, and I'm learning how to shift perspective, right? So the beauty in it is that I got to curate a sound specific to me, which I didn't necessarily have.
RASCOE: 'Cause you were a member of the pop group Fifth Harmony.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORK FROM HOME")
FIFTH HARMONY: (Rapping) You don't got to go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work. But you got to put in work, work, work, work, work, work, work. You don't got to go to work...
RASCOE: And you've said that you didn't feel seen or valued in that group. And so tell me about discovering who Normani is outside of a group.
NORMANI: I mean, honestly, coming out of the group, I wanted to create records that really represented me. And even just being in the group, like, we weren't allowed really to be creative until the last album. We were told what each of our roles would be within the entity of Fifth Harmony. We showed up and did just that, but we did have really great ideas, you know? My point in saying that is it was really important for me to just kind of find my sound and find my voice and go through some experiences in order to feel like I had something to talk about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INSOMNIA")
NORMANI: (Singing) I thought that I've been going crazy, but I'm doing better lately. I finally stopped the tears from running and I know that's got to count for something. But when you...
I grew up being heavily influenced and inspired by, like, early 2000s. I love Missy Elliott. Everybody knows that I love Aaliyah. So I kind of puilled from the things I grew up loving and which made me fall in love with music in the first place, but also things that I found along the way that I wouldn't have if it weren't for me giving myself time.
RASCOE: I can hear that on the album. I think my favorite song on the album is "Insomnia."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INSOMNIA")
NORMANI: (Singing) I wish you didn't call me. There's so much it reminds me of. 'Cause every time you call me it's giving me insomnia - insomnia. It's giving me...
Well, "Insomnia" was actually one of the first records created for the project. So that's the record that has really stood the test. The inspiration going in, I remember, I was just like, I love this Brandy record. It's called "Something Is Missing (ph)."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMETHING'S MISSING")
BRANDY: (Singing) Feels like I'm on a long journey, going in circles. And I ain't even going nowhere.
NORMANI: Just her vocal ability and the textures and the Brandy-isms that only Brandy can bring - I wanted to have my own rendition and kind of version of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INSOMNIA")
NORMANI: (Singing) I know that I could probably block you, but for some reason, I want to see you.
I ended up sending it to Brandy. I was like, I'm just going to shoot my shot. I don't know. Hopefully, she likes it. And she did. And she ended up actually helping vocal produce after the record was written, so it was special. Yeah. She's actually - she's in there. I don't know if you picked that up.
RASCOE: I didn't. I did not realize that. And she's the Vocal Bible, right? Like, that's what everybody calls Brandy (laughter).
NORMANI: Yes. Yes, she is, she is.
RASCOE: It seems like this album also has the influence of, like, that Southern hip-hop, chopped and screwed.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STILL")
NORMANI: (Rapping) Still tippin' on four, fours, wrapped, wrapped in four Vogues, pimpin', pimpin' four hoes...
Hey, I did that last minute. But it was important for me to just kind of represent part of where I'm from. I'm originally from New Orleans, which a lot of people don't know. And then, me and my family got displaced to Houston, Texas.
RASCOE: Because of Hurricane Katrina - is that why you had to leave New Orleans?
NORMANI: Yes. Yes. I was 9 at the time. But Houston has given me so much, and even just during that time, like I remember, the city really did welcome me with open arms.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STILL")
NORMANI: (Rapping) Pimpin', pimpin' four hoes and I'm packing .44s.
RASCOE: You've talked a bit about that journey on being a solo artist. And one thing that, you know, often comes up with the music industry is, like, being a brown-skinned woman, like myself, do you feel like colorism has played any role in your career or affected your career at all?
NORMANI: I mean, I can speak from my own experience. I know what it feels like to be the only Black girl in a girl group. And it really took a toll on my confidence. I feel like going and having meet and greets and you being the only one that nobody greets. Like, as blatant as that, I was also racially bullied on social media. One summer, we were on tour, got death threats, just all kinds of things, images of me, photoshopped online of just horrific historic events that have happened within the Black community. Being so young at the time and having to navigate and experience that in front of everybody, there's also a sense of embarrassment, even though it isn't anything that I inflicted on myself. At the time, I really didn't know my superpower was, who God created me to be. And that there is power in not me only me being a Black woman but as a dark-skinned Black woman as well. And representation has always been key to me. And I just pray that God uses me as a vessel for generations to come.
RASCOE: I wanted to ask you, where on this album do you feel most powerful? What song maybe? And why?
NORMANI: I love "Distance." I don't know. Just the second that I heard it, I immediately just felt connected to it, especially, like I was saying, I've experienced a lot between 2018 and now, as a woman in relationship and heartbreak. And I just immediately gravitated to that. And I felt like I had something to say when it came to that topic.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DISTANCE")
NORMANI: (Singing) I need to love you from a distance m- from a distance. Tired of fighting for attention. How much do you really listen? When I need you, you're always missing. I need to love you from a distance. I'm not asking for permission. I tried about everything. You can't put it all on me from a distance. You said...
RASCOE: Yeah, no, I feel you. And these men - and I say men, 'cause that's who I date. They will mess you up. Sometimes you do got to love them from a distance.
NORMANI: That is a different conversation for a different day.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Man. That's the singer Normani. Her new album is called "Dopamine." Thank you so much for joining us.
NORMANI: Thank you for having me, and thank you for this conversation.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DISTANCE")
NORMANI: (Singing) 'Cause I fell in love with potential, mm, yeah... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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