It’s been a few years since the all-girl group went on hiatus indefinitely, but Normani recently opened up to Allure as the magazine’s latest cover star about the difficulties she faced in Fifth Harmony.
Out of the group, Normani was the only Black girl. She said that within the group, her opportunities were limited.
“I didn’t get to really sing in the group. I felt like I was overlooked,” she said. “That idea has been projected on me. Like, this is your place.”
Despite being raised in a culturally affirming household, the 25-year-old artist went on to say that she’s “always felt like the underdog in anything [she’s] ever done,” recalling damaging moments throughout her childhood when she was confronted with racist remarks that had a significant impact on her.
“I grew up feeling beautiful,” she said. “My mom, my dad, my grandmother instilled in me at a very early age that I was beautiful.”
“The fact that my skin was chocolate was a beautiful thing,” she continued. “My kinky hair was beautiful. I don’t need to straighten it. I can rock my braids to my all-white school.”
Normani went on to say that she had already experienced numerous microaggressions and racist comments from her white classmates by the time she was in sixth grade. “I did get bullied a lot,” she admitted. “Not feeling like I had that representation at school was very hard.”
Despite having coped with such traumatic events in the past — both during her youth and in the public eye during her adolescence and early twenties — Normani claims to have discovered her strength and is “reinventing” herself as she pursues a solo career.
“I’m reinventing myself,” she shared. “Now you all are finally going to be able to see me tap into that awareness — that I know I’m the shit.”
She said, “My purpose in this work that I do is for other people that feel like they have Black women figured out,” adding that, “There’s so many layers to us, there are so many textures, there’s so much that we’re capable of doing.”
This isn’t Normani’s first time speaking about targeted racism. Last year in an interview with Women’s Health, she shared that while in Fifth Harmony, she received numerous racist comments from people online, which ultimately “altered the perception” she had of herself.
“Having certain things happen so blatantly while also feeling like the ‘other’ and being so young and hearing the public compare [the group members] took a toll on my confidence,” she told the publication. “For a long time, I didn’t believe in myself because I didn’t feel like I was given the opportunity to.”
She explained, “For a long time, I was stressed out about checking boxes like, is this Black enough? Is this pop enough? But music started feeling way better when I just went into the studio with the mentality of being Normani.”
When it came time for Normani to make her own music, the singer revealed that she felt pressured to maintain a certain image in the pop industry as a Black woman.
“People will always remember how you made them feel and what a record did for them,” she continued. “My lyrics have more depth, and they’re more intentional and come from a more authentic place because I now feel more connected to myself than before.”
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