I'm the type of person who enjoys talented artists who care about their craft and artistry, and Normani is one of the artists that I've been following the career of since she went solo after Fifth Harmony's hiatus. However, the journey so far hasn't been an easy one for Normani and her supporters.
It seems to always happen without fail that black female artists are never given the same amount of grace compared to their respective contemporaries. From the moment Normani went solo she was already getting compared to Beyonce solely because she's black and can sing and dance. This in turn placed a huge burden on Normani to not only live up to these unrealistic expectations, but it also stifled her in a way. She has talked about how in the beginning she wasn't enjoying the creative process because she was worried about not alienating anyone and making sure her music was 'black enough' and 'pop enough'.
From the get-go, some fans, the public, and the industry were already trying to mold her or dictate what type/kind of artist she should be or become.
The first two years of Normani's solo career endeavors were great. However, once she came back after her two-year hiatus of not releasing music, I think that she made some poor career choices. First, coming back with a hypersexual image when the sensual sexy classy girl next door image suited her better and actually, in fact, has much wider appeal. Normani has a natural sex appeal and to toss that image aside to basically do what many of the mainstream female hip-hop artists are doing is a misstep because it's not going to help set herself apart.
Next, the lack of consistency when it comes to promoting her singles is not helping either. Her latest solo single 'Fair' was not a good choice for a commercial single and she has literally performed it one time only which is not acceptable in this current music environment.
Normani is known for her dancing, her body, and being a socialite. I do believe that Normani has the it factor and the potential to be a notable mainstream artist. However, she seems to lack a good team around her that truly believes in her.
Another factor that can't be ignored is the current politics of the music industry which affects so many artists. I'm not sure if Normani will be able to properly thrive in the industry to her fullest capabilities because she's so detached from social media and I can't blame her after she was racially cyberbullied. Unfortunately, we're currently in the microwave era of music and new artists have to be out there constantly hustling and engaging with their fans on social media nowadays.
I sometimes get the feeling that Normani would've thrived as an artist during the 1990s and early 2000s. It's also not surprising that she feels that the late 90s and early 2000s were the best eras of music. It seems that people these days don't appreciate artists who are dancer-singers anymore.
I wish the best for Normani's career and I sincerely hope that her elusive debut album that's been delayed many times is released at some point this year. Then next year in 2023 she should go on tour and try to get her acting career up and going.
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