As her latest Hot 100 top 20 hit made clear, Normani isn’t afraid to show her wild side – even though the journey to confidently doing so wasn’t exactly the smoothest.
Hot on the promo trail in support of her ambassador deals with the American Cancer Society and TRESemmé on the Power Your Style Project, the 26-year-old didn’t hold back while dishing about learning how to be comfortable in her own skin and some of the barriers put in place over her career that almost detoured that experience.
Look inside for more.
In an interview published Monday (October 17), Normani – lauded for her fashion-forward ensembles on stage, red carpets, and music videos – chatted it up with ‘Elite Daily’ correspondent Amber RambHarose to discuss her outlook on fashion and beauty trends.
Along the way, the ‘Motivation’ singer dished about the motivation she’s had over the years to be her authentic self when it comes to her aesthetic.
She says the journey to that reckoning came courtesy of her stint in Platinum-selling girl group Fifth Harmony.
“Starting in Fifth Harmony, we had no input. We were told who to be — musically and in fashion. Not just in terms of what we wore, even when it came to the beauty space,” she shared.
Despite eventually having more of a creative hand in her visuals, Normani says she still battled staunch criticism.
“I have always felt really comfortable in my own skin. I feel like my divine femininity deserves to be celebrated. I guess other people aren’t comfortable or have their own opinions and decided to try to turn that into something negative,” she said in reference to her Cardi B-assisted ‘Wild Side’ music video.
That criticism has even bordered on bullying and sexism according to the former 5H star.
“I remember there was one music video that we were all really upset about, “Work From Home.” We got slut-shamed. Especially at the time, there was and is such a double standard between guys and women being able to be expressive and say certain things in records. We apparently aren’t allowed to, which is why I’m so proud of where women are musically today, being able to say what we want,” she revealed. “It’s something that should be celebrated as opposed to making us feel shameful.”
All-in-all, the naysayers only made her stronger and helped reshape how she defined self-care and self-love.
“It’s an evolution. Just allow yourself to be creative and expressive in spite of what people are trying to paint you out to be,” she said about her journey to self-acceptance. “There’s really no right or wrong.”
*****
The Elite Daily spotlight came just days after Normani was found in the pages of ‘Elle’ magazine’s October issue (which hit stands mid-September).
There, the songstress spoke openly about her mother’s cancer survivorship – reflecting vividly on how experience the throes of the health scare impacted the recording of her yet-released debut solo album.
“I was working on my debut album, and completing it seemed very unrealistic. Aside from my mom, I wasn’t concerned about anything, including music. It was such a challenge to stay in my groove creatively while also allowing myself to feel everything that I needed to with my mom. She promised that she would still be here once my album dropped, which gave me purpose in creating this body of work. Every session and record that I did carried weight because my art was her escape during treatment,” she said to the women’s mag about her mom’s two battles with breast cancer.
That’s not all she said. Click here to read the candid chat with ‘Elle.’
![First Look Trailer: 'The Big Cigar' [André Holland-Led Apple TV+ Series]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/the-big-cigar-trailer-tgj-464x260.jpg "First Look Trailer: 'The Big Cigar' [André Holland-Led Apple TV+ Series].")
Cue that weirdo making this over 100 comments.
🤣🤣🤣🤣My thoughts exactly
We all knew she was going to drag her “sick” mom into this, she is so predictable. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Im taking you to court b*tch
This reminds me of shayla Q**** lmaoo
It’s almost 2023. That will mark 5 years since Normani went solo. A handful of singles and still no debut album. Empty promises and false starts galore. This elusive album of hers isn’t coming…
Says the nobody masturbator hahahaha
Keep it moving if you have nothing of substance to add. “hahahaha” that!
I see you downtalking successful people on every post meanwhile you probably broke af
Handful of singles? *looks around for the Handful you speak of* lol
I wanted her to pop so bad I’m over it now.
Gurl bye💅🏾 All she does is talk that talk….. Just quit doing music already
B I t c h better hurry up drop that album already coz Diva can predict her mom is running out of time💅🏾 💀
🧭💣💥💥💥💥💥💥💨
🧭💣💥💥💥💥💥💥💨 ⚰️ 🪦
So does yours and everyone reading your vile comment. Your time might be a lil sooner tho if you do something about that septic tank you have between your legs.
She talking about everything but the album release date 🤡💀
What else is she gonna talk about
Shes boring
She has a boring personality
The most interesting thing about the rat is Camila cabello
What happened to Candy Paint? She’s a liar. She promised no more long breaks and also that her album would be released in the summer. Well we’re a month into fall and crickets… 🦗. Normani is a f****** loser I swear. We were all rooting for you!!!
I told yall since 2019, this girl ain’t it but yall refused to listen
Excuses after excuses
Her mother has been cancer free for several years but shes still using her mama cancer diagnosis to gain sympathy and pity. Shes so pathetic.
I just came down here to say before i read the article….. THIS IS GONNA BE FUNNY AF….
She cannot possibly try to be in her feelings when all she is selling is s**…
The woman has a point. She gat personal issues to deal with & its delayed her music. The news of her mom battling cancer is so devastating. But why put pressure on her?? Ya’ll barely got a dollar to your name but here hating lmaoo
On point hun
lol
haters mad
Oh please, many other artists deal with sickness and drama in their family and they don’t wait almost 7 years to complete an album, most of them don’t even talk about it. Excuses, always excuses, enough.
Y’all b****** is BIG MAD. The queen is coming thanks for the concern.
Queen of what exactly? How can you be that delusional after so many years?
Most of her haters love to critize and give their unwanted two cents about her career and herself as a person. I think people have forgotten that she is under RCA. Even Sza released commerically successful records in 2020 and 2021 and her album may come this year in 2022. It is not her fault that her music keeps getting delayed and she has no control over release dates.
The number 1 song in the country right now is by an artist signed to RCA records
Steve lacy- bad habit
An obscure rnb song.
All these excuses and deflecting and pity and sympathy is not gonna give the ugly talentless girl called normani a career.
Twitter hyped her but they will never buy her music cause she sucks
Stop that. She said herself that she never took the time to work on her own music when she was on FH – she’s not a real passionate musical lover. She could have released free songs, mixtapes, try many things and deliver for the public but she didn’t because she’s lazy as F.
i skipped the whole story and scrolled down just for the tea
Her 12 fans from Twitter fighting for their lives in the comments.
😂
Normani hasnt charted any song in 2022
All the songs she released this year flop
Fair
New to u
Dont they
All flopped. Now shes trying to use her mother’s cancer diagnosis to deflect and gain sympathy and pity. This was the same girl who was dancing in a chris brown video. Lol
Wild side is still stuck at 100 million streams. Lol a whole cardi feature
RCA records artists winning this year
Doja
Sza
H.e.r
Latto
Steve lacy
Tems
Chris brown
Jasmine Sullivan
All black artists winning.
Steve lacy us number 1 right now with a whole rnb song.
RCA records is not the problem.
Nobody is checking for normani
Why are they still granting her interviews?
Ur not a star
Go away
A video vixen/ reality star who does music for fun.
Gurl shut the fck up 🤣 weirdo
I lost interest in this girl a long time ago. She’s too inconsistent. The aloof Beyonce route doesn’t work for new artists. Someone should get that through her head.
Shes not mysterious or aloof. Shes just boring
When it comes to normani, theres nothing interesting to talk about
If u notice it’s always the same thing
I’m s dark skin woman doing pop
My mama had cancer
I was bullied on Twitter
My album is coming, I’m working on it.
Beyonce and janet inspired me
This is what she talks about in every interview since 2018.
She dont even try to spice it up abit. Lol