(Columbia)
The ex-Fifth Harmony member was tipped for huge success until creative differences and personal strife set her back, but she has confidently regained her footing by leaning into R&B
For six long years Normani was the most overlooked member of Fifth Harmony, a so-so girl band fused together in 2012 on the forgotten US variant of The X Factor. When they split in 2018, she quickly became the pop connoisseurs’ choice for assumed solo breakout success, a decision supported by a string of subsequent collaborations with acts including Khalid, Sam Smith and Calvin Harris.
In the summer of 2019 she unleashed Motivation, a Max Martin-assisted, 00s pop-infused banger with a splashy video that recalled Beyoncé’s solo superstar arrival with Crazy in Love. From the outside, things looked rosy. Then Normani disappeared; songs were sporadic and untethered from a body of work; fans trolled her online, bemoaning perceived wasted opportunities to capitalise on her momentum. She resurfaced in February, trolling those fans right back with the launch of her website, wheresthedamnalbum.com, on which she announced the damn album.