Normani has spoken out about the pressure to release her delayed debut album.
The former Fifth Harmony member has been teasing her debut since 2018, but struggled to produce her highly-anticipated debut album for fans. She even alluded to the long wait time when teasing the album earlier this year in her website address, ‘wheresthedamnalbum.com’.
Now, the singer has spoken out on the reasons for its lengthy delay, partially owing to both her parents being diagnosed with cancer.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Normani shared that her mother Andrea was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, 19 years after remission. She also told the publication her father Derrick was separately diagnosed with prostate cancer the next year at the same time as her mother’s completion of chemotherapy. Normani has confirmed that both parents are now “healthy, by the grace of God”.
The singer also opened up about the online scrutiny she received whilst suffering a tough breakup, fears that she had failed to capitalise on her momentum after Fifth Harmony’s split in 2018, and her perfectionist tendencies.
Speaking to The Guardian, Normani said: “Honestly, it was just a reminder of all the questions I was already asking myself. I’ve had to learn to grant myself some grace and forgiveness, because a lot of it was just out of my control. I did the best with what I could, and that’s on top of the business shifting, teams changing. It was a lot.”
Normani previously opened up about her parents’ cancer diagnoses, saying: “All I wanted to do was be there for them,” she said. “Honestly, music got them through the cancer treatments. I remember being on FaceTime with my mom while she was undergoing chemo and her asking me, ‘How’s the studio today? How’s the music coming?”
She added: “As hard as it was for me to not be with them as much as I wanted to, ultimately, pushing through made the circumstances of the last few years feel a bit lighter for my parents.”
The singer has just released her debut album ‘Dopamine‘ on Friday (June 14), with NME writing that it was “brilliant” in a four star review: “It may have taken six years, but ‘Dopamine’ sounds like the (damn) album Normani was meant to make all long.”
Normani teased the record in January, calling it “literally the best music she’s ever made” and later describing it as “a representation of [her] evolution.”
“For me, this upcoming album is not just about music coming out,” she said. “It feels like a representation of everything I’ve gone through to get to this moment. The album feels like liberation, like a season of freedom. Not just because the record is finally coming out, but because it’s a celebration of everything.”
In other news, Normani has addressed rumours of a Fifth Harmony reunion.