Why Normani Hated 'Motivation' and Fifth Harmony Feeling Like a Prison Sentence
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00:00 ♪ I'm not breaking up, let me be your motivation ♪
00:03 ♪ To stay and give it to me ♪
00:06 - Turns out Normani needed her own motivation
00:09 to put out her debut single.
00:11 Revealing to The Cut, she initially told her label
00:13 she didn't like the song.
00:15 - My goodness, people don't have any idea.
00:18 - It comes ahead of the release
00:19 of her long-awaited debut album, Dopamine.
00:22 - It's coming, I promise.
00:24 - The album was expected to drop in 2019,
00:27 and now Normani is shedding light
00:29 on why those plans changed, telling the mag,
00:32 "I could've put three albums out by now in that duration.
00:35 "I'm not oblivious to that,
00:37 "but I felt like I owed it to myself
00:39 "to be able to take my time
00:41 "and reinvent and be experimental."
00:44 - Everything's happening the way that,
00:46 that I guess it was meant to.
00:47 - The 27-year-old says after having no artistic control
00:51 over the music she put out with Fifth Harmony,
00:53 she wanted to take ownership of her solo career.
00:56 Revealing that she hated her debut single, "Motivation,"
00:59 and its pop refulgence.
01:01 ♪ I'ma take it off, let me be your motivation ♪
01:04 ♪ To stay and give it tonight ♪
01:07 - "It didn't feel like it represented me,
01:09 "and I had already known how that felt,
01:11 "but the label was like, 'Sorry, it's coming out.'"
01:14 Normani says she compromised with the music video.
01:18 Quote, "This needs to be black as (beep)."
01:21 ♪ Baby, turn around, let me give you innovation ♪
01:24 ♪ Yeah, 'cause I do it so right ♪
01:26 ♪ Think about it, oh, think about it ♪
01:29 - I'm so excited.
01:30 No, I'm proud of myself.
01:32 - ET was with Normani the night she performed "Motivation"
01:34 at the MTV VMAs, catching her initial reaction
01:38 to watching her performance back for the first time.
01:41 - I'm so happy.
01:43 I'm probably gonna cry tonight.
01:44 - I study, you know, I watch Britney performances
01:46 with The Snake, the most iconic moments,
01:48 and I feel like the VMAs, like any other show,
01:51 like this is where the biggest moments in pop culture happen
01:54 and the fact that I got to be a part of that tonight
01:56 is just really crazy, and as myself, so God is great.
02:00 - Well, five years later, Normani reveals to The Cut
02:02 that she was actually really hard on herself
02:05 after the performance.
02:06 Quote, "I remember getting off the stage
02:09 "and feeling devastated because I wasn't able
02:11 "to lose myself in the performance.
02:13 "Admitting that she can be self-critical,
02:15 "it takes other people outside of me
02:17 "to point out what I'm doing well."
02:20 - Oh yeah. - It's a truth.
02:22 - Normani also revisits her past with Fifth Harmony,
02:25 which in the magazine compares to a prison sentence
02:28 ordered and duly served.
02:30 ♪ See me in the spotlight ♪
02:31 ♪ Ooh, I love it your style ♪
02:34 ♪ Uh-huh, show me what you got now ♪
02:36 ♪ Come and make it worth my while ♪
02:38 ♪ Give it to me, I'm worth it ♪
02:40 - The singer telling the mag
02:41 she didn't wanna be in the forefront,
02:43 and later, she says she started to feel like a token.
02:47 - I feel like, you know, within the group,
02:49 and I'm so, so grateful for the process,
02:52 but I can speak for all of us.
02:53 You've only been able to see a fraction
02:54 of who we are individually, so.
02:56 - Her mom, Andrea Hamilton, joining the conversation
02:59 to address the racism Normani endured.
03:02 "I remember going on social media
03:04 "and seeing my daughter's face photoshopped
03:06 "on bodies of people being whipped."
03:09 Her mom says the hate escalated
03:11 after Normani casually called Camila Cabello
03:13 quirky and cute in an interview,
03:16 leading to a number of fans interpreting it
03:18 as a dig, and singling out Normani,
03:21 the only black girl in the group.
03:23 Normani tells The Cut, "At the time,
03:25 "she was fearing for her life,
03:27 "but they continued to put me out there on the stage.
03:29 "It was pretty much like, the show goes on."
03:33 - For black women like myself,
03:35 it's not been an easy journey,
03:38 and so, you know, being a woman
03:39 in a male-dominated field on top of being a black woman,
03:42 but you know, that's my power.
03:44 - Yeah, and fans are ready to get a dose of that power
03:47 when "Dopamine" drops June 14th.
03:49 (upbeat music)
03:52 (upbeat music)
03:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]