Here, Normani talks to Vogue about the long road to Dopamine.
Vogue: Hi, Normani. How’s it going?
Normani: It’s going. [Laughs.] How are you?
I’m not too bad. It’s exciting to speak to you on release day. How are you feeling?
I think a weight has been lifted, for sure. It’s been such a long journey and process for me, and I know everything that I’ve endured and put into this, so I’m just doing my best to be present and grant myself some grace and celebrate myself.
Have you been paying attention to the response so far?
I don’t really know what people are saying, honestly. I told myself that I owed it to myself to not be so consumed by it, or allow the noise to jade this day for me. I hear that there’s a lot of positivity from my family and friends and everybody around, so I’m really excited about that. But yeah, I’ve just been in my moment of stillness and trying my best to be present and have gratitude for where I am right now, and how far I’ve come personally.
Going back to the beginning with Dopamine—you’ve been writing songs as a solo artist for over six years. Was there a eureka moment for you during all of that, when you hit upon a specific sound and were like, “This is it. This is what I want my record to sound like”?
I feel like the first time I defined my own sound was with “Wild Side.” Still, to this day, that’s one of my favorite records that I feel wholeheartedly just represents me and represents stylistically the type of music that made me fall in love with music from a very early age—Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, the nostalgia of it all. I always joke that I feel like I was born in the wrong generation, because my favorite era is undeniably the late ’90s and early 2000s. I started this process a very long time ago, and I’ve learned a lot more about myself not only as an artist, but as a woman too. And I think you can hear that on “Wild Side”—it was a real breakthrough, and one of the first moments where I was like, Oh, wow, this feels authentic. This feels like it really represents where I am.
