Teen Vogue — BEAUTY & LIFESTYLE

“I feel hurt, sad, elated sometimes. I feel like I’m in my head. I feel not so confident. I just want to be able to show not only women, but people in general, that I am a human as well.”

Singer, Normani sat down with Teen Vogue’s Tre’vell Anderson for a zoom interview where the two discussed vulnerability, new music and how Normani is fulfilling her “calling”.

“She tells me of how God has been her backbone for as long as she can remember, that faith gives her strength. She shares that God told her long ago that she was destined for greatness, even when she wanted to hide in the background. She sees herself as a servant, a vessel for change as everything happens according to God’s will.

‘Honestly, for me, it’s bigger than the music,” she continues. As her speech slows, I can tell she really believes what she’s saying. ‘As much as I love what I do, I want to change lives and I want to reach as many people as I can. I feel like that’s the difference between doing something that you love and also having purpose. I want to tell our stories and, like I said, be a representation that Black girls can do anything...I feel like it’s my calling.’ “- Tre’Vell Anderson/ TEEN VOGUE

“The new album then — when it finally drops — will be her reintroduction as Normani, the solo star. The guards are down, the defense mechanisms are disabled. It will “be an opportunity for the public to be able to get to know me in a way that they haven’t been able to before,” she says. ‘I feel hurt, sad, elated sometimes. I feel like I’m in my head. I feel not so confident. I just want to be able to show not only women, but people in general, that I am a human as well.” I’m struck by Normani’s admission, to just be seen as human by the people who consume her art. Perhaps her vulnerability is her way of navigating the undue pressure put on Black women in a racist, patriarchal society that deems them subhuman. Nevertheless, Normani is optimistic about this challenge. She says it’s for the fans that stood by her side when racist trolls cyberbullied her while she was in Fifth Harmony. Her resilience is for the Black girls, who, like her, fail the brown-paper-bag test but are still a standard of beauty. ‘Representation, like I always say, is key,’ she says. ‘To be a young woman that looks like myself, I just feel like [being a positive example] is a part of my legacy. It’s me wanting to create better opportunities for us, and also just for people who think that they got us figured out, [I want to show that] we are multifaceted and capable of much more than we get credit for, in the music industry and also in society. I feel like I have a duty.’ “ - Tre’Velle Anderson/ TEEN VOGUE

Anyone paying attention can attest that Normani keeps raising the bar, for herself and others. While her singing chops are very much a gift, what separates her from the pack is a knack for choreography that engenders comparisons to Janet Jackson in her prime. The result, of her stepping into this solo life with aplomb (feigned or actual), is a potentially unattainable standard hanging over her head that she feels she must hit. Stepping out on one’s own often comes with the room to make mistakes, but being a public figure, and one who means so much to so many, she’s seemingly not given space. That’s where the last six months have come in handy. The near halt of the hustle and bustle of the music industry has been “a blessing in disguise,” Normani says, and has given her the necessary time to find her voice. “Obviously aside from just how devastating [this moment] is, I’ve been able to get to know myself in a way that I hadn’t been able to before,” she says. Investing in self-care has made her more comfortable with being vulnerable in her music “because now I’m tapped into myself in such an intimate way.’ “- Tre’Velle Anderson/ TEEN VOGUE

As for the album? “But I’m close,” she offers. “When God tells me that it’s done, then it’ll be done. I’ll feel it, you know?”