Going Her Own Way
Her group Fifth Harmony went on hiatus in March, and just three weeks later, Keep Cool/RCA Records announced Normani as its first signee. The now 22-year-old, who teased her solo career with February’s sultry smash “Love Lies” with Khalid, has said that her first album will be “going back to the music that I grew up with” in Houston and New Orleans.
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In recent interviews, Normani has mentioned collaborators including Calvin Harris, Stargate, Ester Dean and Grammy-winning production team The Stereotypes. “She’s very involved and knows what she wants,” says The Stereotypes’ Jon Street. But Normani might be most excited about Missy Elliott, with whom she was slated to spend two weeks in the studio. “She’s the one I’ve looked up to since I was a little girl,” she told Billboard in April.
Owning Her Past — And Future
The artist has hinted that her time in 5H will influence her solo material: “I feel like I’ve experienced a lot in the last six years, so [the album is] just getting all of that out.” A rep for Normani says that new music will arrive in the next few months.
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 15 issue of Billboard.