Normani is Ready for Her Second Act

L'Officiel USA Issue 4 hits newsstands September 10. Click here to order a copy, and sign up for our newsletter for exclusives from the new issue.

In the historic pantheon of pop groups, especially one carefully created on a reality show, the success of solo endeavors is largely a mystery. Such is the case with Simon Cowell’s multi-platinum girl group Fifth Harmony, which announced an indefinite hiatus in early 2018, following member Camila Cabello’s unexpected departure just a year earlier. It is Normani who has emerged first as a solo star with her track “Love Lies,” recorded with Khalid. The two performed the track live for the first time at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, and it was Normani’s explosive choreography that made them the highlight of the night.

“Everybody was sitting on the edge of their seats watching, waiting to see what I was gonna do. So there was pressure there definitely, but I don't know, there's just a fire that is lit any time I'm onstage,” she says of the night, adding, “I worked my butt off for the last six years and this was the moment that I prepared for, so I gave it my all and I kind of blacked out. I still watch it now and I can't believe that's me because in general, every day, that's not the person that I am offstage. I'm super shy and more laid-back. But that was a different side.”

The singer would describe her stage persona as something of a Sasha Fierce moment, the alter ego created by Beyoncé on her 2008 record of the same name. “It's funny cause I feel like [Beyoncé] is my alter ego.”

Still riding the high of that night, Normani is currently working on her debut album, which she hopes will show the world every facet of her artistry, including the sides she had to save while being a member of a group. I caught up with her during a break at a writing camp in New Orleans.

What made you want to write and record your album in NOLA?

The most important thing about coming out with this debut album is just representation and making sure that people get a sense of the city that I grew up in, New Orleans. It made me and shaped me into the woman that I've become, morally, and my family is from here. This is really where my roots stem from and I am everything that the city makes up, so I definitely wouldn't have chosen any other place to record and kind of [get] zen…because for this project, the sounds that I want to incorporate are heavily influenced by the city. So I flew the songwriters and the producers down and they're having the time of their lives. I can't wait for everybody else to hear it, and we have a few surprises, too.

There better be some bounce on the album if you're gonna be recording in New Orleans.

Oh my god, are you into bounce music? We have a little world of our own. Like we have our own language here, and obviously the food, but bounce music, second line music, jazz… It's just really cool for me to be able to say that I'm from here and kind of put the city on [the album] because this is who I am. At the end of the day, my whole family is from here, so it means something more to me [than] just creating good music.

Having been a part of a group, how much of the solo endeavor is finding yourself, and how much of it is bringing yourself to the music?

Honestly, I’ve had self-discovery and really been able to get the opportunity to know myself in ways that I hadn't been able to before. Recognizing who I was in that entity of Fifth Harmony [is] somebody totally different than who I am now—being able to be in a recording studio and freely talk about whatever it is my heart desires. There's nothing that I can't do now. I want to be able to do everything, so by the end of this project, I know that I put my absolute all and put my whole self into it. For anybody to be able to listen to this body of work, or even look at me as a young Black woman and say, "I see myself in her." And just to put it all out there and be as honest as possible throughout the process.

You said earlier that New Orleans has shaped who you are and I wondered what those specific things might be? I know that people from New Orleans are really resilient.

Absolutely. I think the prime example [is that] I moved to Houston, Texas, because of the hurricane in 2005 and so many of my family members migrated to different places. But the city is back up and running and no matter what comes our way, what obstacles we have to overcome like you said, a really good word for the city is resilient cause we've been through so much as a community that somehow we find strength within each other. You would never know what we went through because you see us have the biggest smiles on our faces…that’s one thing no one can ever steal: our joy.

With “Love Lies” as a collaboration, is that our first true taste of Normani? Or is there a track still to come?

I think that's a piece of who I am. Most definitely. But that's not the whole. There's definitely that track that has yet to come.