Normani | Success Story Of The ‘Motivation’ Singer

Normani is an American singer and dancer. She was born on 31 May 1996 in Georgia, United States. She was a member of Fifth Harmony, one of the biggest girl bands in the world. While in the group, Normani participated in  Dancing with the Stars (2017) and released her first song outside of the group Love Lies in 2018, featuring Khalid, which peaked in the top ten in the US and was certified 5× platinum by RIAA.

Early Life

Normani was born on 31 May 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. She lived in New Orleans, but then her family moved to Houston, Texas, in 2005. She had an interest in dance, gymnastics, and beauty pageants from a young age. Normani got into homeschooling after sixth grade.

Normani and her mother traveled to LA a lot for acting and singing auditions. She recorded a couple of songs at 13. 

The X Factor Journey

Normani auditioned for The X Factor USA as a solo artist in 2012 with a performance of Chain Of Fools by Aretha Franklin. She was cut during the second round of boot camp but came back to the show to perform as part of a group with Ally Brooke, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane, and Camila Cabello. That group, later naming itself Fifth Harmony, made it to the finale, finishing in third place.

Time With Fifth Harmony

Simon Cowell signed the group to his label in January 2013. The group’s first EP, Better Together, came out in October 2013. They released their debut album in January 2015 called Reflection. Fifth Harmony’s second album, 7/27, came out in May 2016. Work From Home, the album’s lead single, peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 10 on several international charts. Work From Home became the first song from a girl group to get into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in eight years. 

The group’s third album, Fifth Harmony, they first as a foursome after Cabello’s departure in December 2016, was released in August 2017. The album marked the first time the group could co-write and have agency over the creative direction of an album. In March 2018, the group decided to take an indefinite hiatus to grow as individual artists and pursue solo ambitions.

Career As A Solo Artist

Normani’s duet with Khalid, Love Lies, came out in February 2018. It scored the highest first-week position for a single by a girl group member in the US, debuting at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached number 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart and charted for forty-five weeks, tying the record for longest charting song on the chart with Dua Lipa’s New Rules. The piece was later placed on former US President Obama’s 2019 year-end favorite songs list.

In August 2019, Normani’s first single as a solo artist, Motivation, came out. Ariana Grande co-wrote it. The song earned her a Song of the Year nomination at the 2020 Brit Awards. One year into her solo career, Normani became the fastest solo artist to surpass one billion combined streams on Spotify.