Normani Is Releasing Her Album Dopamine On Her Own Timeline, and Fans Need to Trust Her Instincts
Hugo Comte/Art Treatment by Kaitlyn McNab
In this op-ed, ahead of the release of Dopamine by Normani, writer Precious Fondren examines the personal challenges behind the six-year delay of the former Fifth Harmony member’s debut album, and argues that fans should be more trusting of an artist’s creative instincts.
The Normani drought is finally over. Six years after she first teased the title of her debut studio album, the singer is slated to release the full-length project on June 14. The announcement of Dopamine on X (formerly Twitter), has garnered 240,000 likes at the time of writing; the album cover is an unparalleled shot of Normani astride a glossy black rocket wearing a latex chained bikini.
Stunning art aside, the rollout strategy for Dopamine has been scrutinized by the singer’s fanbase, with some wanting more press around the project, others offering mixed reviews of recent single “1:59,” and others expressing concerns about the album’s musical direction — will it fall more in line with the downtempo R&B of “1:59,” or lean into the pop of “Candy Paint,” the sound so many have been yearning to hear from Normani since “Motivation”?
The probing anticipation is to be expected. When Normani began her solo career in 2018 following Fifth Harmony’s indefinite hiatus, it seemed her debut project was essentially turned in. Her future seemed clear – Normani appeared destined to become the next It Girl, a sentiment echoed by fans who saw her as deserving of the spotlight, especially after enduring the racist treatment she faced as the only Black member of Fifth Harmony.
Her star was steadily rising, fueled by brand deals and public interest and a tour opener slot for Ariana Grande. Normani was consistent in her releases as any other up-and-coming singer striving to establish her solo career; across 2018 and 2019, she released the vibey, sleeper hit "Waves" featuring 6lack, a two-track EP with Calvin Harris featuring the upbeat and criminally underrated "Checklist" with Wizkid, "Dancing with a Stranger" with Sam Smith, her most commercial effort to date, and her breakout single, “Motivation” with its early 2000s-inspired video that created an instantly iconic moment in pop culture, spawning Halloween costumes galore.
However, it would be two more years before Normani released another lead single, the Cardi B-assisted “Wild Side” in 2021, followed by “Fair” another eight months later. Fans later learned that both of her parents' cancer diagnoses contributed to the delays, but without that context, some felt Normani’s career had stalled, accusing the singer of squandering her momentum, accusing her label of mishandling her projects, or accusing her of just being lazy.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone a week before Dopamine’s release, Normani articulated the impact her parents’ diagnoses had on her solo efforts. “Finding out my mom was diagnosed and then the following year finding out that my dad was diagnosed was one of the greatest challenges,” she told the magazine. “I’m a human being, and the pain that I experience takes away from me being able to be creative and having the motivation to get up and be productive. That was something that I really struggled with. I’ve definitely been tested throughout this process, but there’s a beautiful side to it, too. I’ve given up a lot to be in the position I’m in.”
Despite the mixed reactions to her creative choices, each record Normani released over the past few years, even while wrestling with so much behind-the-scenes, served a purpose: to build her image, attract new listeners, and keep established fans eager for more. Each track asserted that Normani is a performer focused on quality over hype, once focused on becoming an industry staple rather than a fleeting sensation, timeline be damned.
And it’s not only her music that does the work — Normani’s stage presence cannot be denied. Many of her live performances have become unforgettable cultural moments, whether it be her spellbinding Savage x Fenty performances in 2019 and 2021 or her buzzy 2021 MTV VMAs set, where she delivered a show-stopping homage to Janet Jackson and Aaliyah.
Melvin Williams, a 25-year-old Normani fan, began stanning her after her performance of "Love Lies" with Khalid at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. “[Her] ability to command the stage and [her] ability to trigger a crowd just really kind of shocked me,” Williams says. “And then seeing a dark-skinned Black girl doing that made me feel proud and empowered by her.”
Williams says that while the wait for Normani’s debut album has been long, it’s only made him more excited. He sympathizes with the singer’s family situation as well as the pressure she’s faced to be a successful solo act. “I give her a lot of grace for this waiting period. But I know a lot of people don't,” says Williams.
Music marketing professional Olivia Shalhoup explains that fans' constant demand for new music stems from the digital age’s increased access to artists. Before the rise of social media, fans would typically only see and interact with artists around the time of their album rollouts.
“Celebrities are always visible now,” says Shalhoup. “Even the ones who don't post… fans are always constantly checking up on them because of how visible the digital age has made artists. People look at artists as if they're always in that ‘go mode’ whereas it used to be that artists had a little more discretion.”
And still, Normani is forging ahead. She has even embraced the fan chatter by naming her album’s launch website “wheresthedamnalbum.com.” While the wait for a full-length album can be maddening, fans should remember that great work takes time. Normani is not the first artist to take several years to craft an album. It is quite normal for artists to take several years to put out a project. Christina Aguilera took three years to make her de facto sophomore album Stripped; Justin Timberlake took seven years between FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience; and SZA has a five-year gap between Ctrl and SOS.
Normani told Rolling Stone that she is “trusting [herself] a lot more”... so why can’t fans follow suit and trust her instincts as an artist? If she had rushed to release her album, we might be having a different discussion right now — one dissecting the quality of a project released from a place of appeasement and not honesty. During a recent conversation with Dazed, Normani revealed that she was not a fan of her breakout single “Motivation.” “I didn’t like that song,” she confessed. “It just felt really easy — it felt like the right thing to do, but it didn’t necessarily feel authentic.”
In contrast, Dopamine seems to be her most authentic offering yet, a project expected to showcase her versatility, blending edgy pop, R&B, and Hip-Hop to reflect her diverse musical influences. Hopefully, Dopamine will finally get audiences to see and understand Normani as an artist worth waiting for. This project is not only a milestone in her career but also a deeply personal endeavor, infused with themes of empowerment, self-discovery, and resilience drawn from her own experiences. Would there even be music to discuss if she had not taken her time, living a life?
“I know what it’s like to put out music that I don’t necessarily believe in,” Normani told Dazed. “It hurts when I don’t feel like I’m able to be fully represented or when I have to stand behind something I don’t believe in… so I made an oath to myself that, when I got the opportunity, I was gonna do things my way, and be unapologetic about that.”
As Normani finally steps into the spotlight with Dopamine, she is poised to redefine her status as a solo artist and nurture her creative legacy. “The people on Twitter can claim all day that the hype is gone, and that no one cares anymore.” says superfan Williams. “But clearly, the hype is still there. Otherwise, you wouldn't be saying [anything.]”
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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