I will never forget that day. On March 19, 2018 Fifth Harmony announced their decision to take an indefinite hiatus to pursue solo careers. Fifth member Camila Cabello had left the group in December 2016 to pursue her own solo career. I thought the quartet would go on and deliver more music after the self-titled release August 2017. Nevertheless, the extremely popular girl group would only record the one album together before searching for solo gold. As Fifth Harmony disbanded, the only conclusion was which artist would be the first to release solo music. Then, would any of the women join Cabello and find true solo stardom? The picture is becoming clearer as time goes on.
As of September 2018, all members have released solo singles and confirmed début albums. However, one ex-Fifth Harmony member is creating quite a buzz in music industry circles. This week, Weekly Music Commentary will feature Normani Kordei Hamilton. Why Normani you might ask? Well, allow me to explain what the young artist has accomplished at this point, and what appears to be on the way. Before that, it might be good to look at her life before Fifth Harmony first.
Normani was born on May 31, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia but raised in music-rich New Orleans. Hamilton has performed since she was three, and was an award-winning dancer and gymnast before finding her true calling as a singer, recording her first single at age 13. She also had a small role on the HBO series Treme. She and her family relocated to Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Coincidentally, this is the second consecutive week I featured an artist who started a musical career after appearing on The X Factor, this week the US edition though in 2012. She advanced to the next round after getting approval from all four of the judges. It was during the second round of boot camp that led to her elimination. That marked the end of Normani’s X Factor participation as a solo artist. However, she was brought back to the show and put into a group with four other girls, Ally Brooke, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane, and Camila Cabello, who would later become Fifth Harmony. At the end of the show’s season, the group managed to make it to the finale and finished in third place.
I don’t think anyone would have predicted the success Fifth Harmony enjoyed after The X Factor. As of December 2016, in the United States, Fifth Harmony has sold a total of 456,000 albums, seven million digital songs and earned 1.6 billion on-demand streams, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Now the members have returned to the recording booth as solo artists.
As I look at Fifth Harmony’s illustrious career, I notice that all of the members are still quite young. As of the writing of this post, Normani will celebrate her twenty-third birthday May 31st. Yes, that means there could be several more years of music for her, and her other ex-band mates.
Initially, Normani started doing smaller, carefully calculated projects. From February 2016 through January 2017, Normani released covers of several songs, including Tory Lanez’s “Say It” and mash-ups of Drake’s “Fake Love”/”Sneakin'”, and Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky”/”Don’t Touch My Hair”, with the help of the producers The Invaders. Normani competed on season 24 of Dancing with the Stars from March through May 2017, alongside her dancing partner, professional ballroom dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. They reached the finals and finished in third place. In early August 2017, Normani was featured as a cameo in R&B singer Khalid’s music video for “Young Dumb & Broke”. Later that month, Normani confirmed that she and Khalid were working on “new song ideas”.
In October 2017, it was announced that Normani had signed to management company S10 Entertainment as a solo artist. Normani was reported to have signed a publishing deal to Stellar Songs as a songwriter in early February 2018. Now things were getting serious, musically speaking. Those business moves signaled new music on the way. Yes it was.
On February 14, 2018, Normani and Khalid released the song “Love Lies” for the soundtrack of the romantic teen comedy-drama film, Love, Simon. The single debuted at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100, scoring the highest first-week position for a single by a girl group member. It was a sleeper hit, reaching the number nine position after charting for 28 weeks. At this point, fans, critics, record executives all could see the possibilities of Normani delivering chart-topping music.
With the ball starting to roll, Normani would go back to work. In April 2018, it was announced that Normani had signed to Keep Cool/RCA Records for her solo début studio album. Normani confirmed she was working on an upcoming music collaboration with Missy Elliott. In May 2018, it was announced that she signed to a modeling contract with Wilhelmina. Over the next few months, Billboard confirmed Normani was collaborating with Calvin Harris and Kehlani. In August 2018, Normani was featured on Jessie Reyez’s remix of her song “Body Count” alongside Kehlani. She then featured with Davido on the song “Swing” from Quavo’s album Quavo Huncho.
Normani’s promotional team must have gone crazy with all the activity. That’s the way it should be. A busy young artist will create a lot of buzz and work for many people behind the scenes. Normani was now introduced to life as a real solo artist. Even though the other girls were gone from the stage and studio, there was a need for harmony within her organization. More was on the way.
On October 22, 2018, Normani and Harris released two songs titled “Checklist” and “Slow Down” as part of the two-track EP Normani x Calvin Harris. The following day, Normani performed “Checklist” at the Tidal X Brooklyn concert, along with a new song, “Waves” featuring 6lack. In early November, Normani was announced as one of two supporting acts for Ariana Grande’s North American leg of her Sweetener World Tour. “Waves” premiered on Beats 1 and was released as a single on November 15, 2018. In her interview with Beats 1, Normani said that her début album is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2019, and its title is a number. Normani said in December 2018 that she is working with Pharrell Williams on music for her album. On January 11, 2019, Normani’s song with Sam Smith, “Dancing with a Stranger”, was released, peaking at number three in the UK and number seven in the US.
There you have it. The whirlwind culminating in a huge international hit song. The work continues with Pharrell and we are all on album watch.
I must admit I am happy to hear the news of a début Normani solo album. Her music seems to be quite exciting, giving way to very entertaining music videos. It’s no wonder I have heard a lot of anticipation from music writers and other top artists about young Normani Kordei. I won’t mention names, but many have made bold predictions about the rest of Normani’s solo career. The thinking is she is heading for major international success. I never make such bold predictions, however the synergy from those surrounding her suggest something very big.