Normani Opens Up About How Her Mother Was the Driving Force Behind Releasing “Wild Side”

Normani opened up in a recent interview with Power 106 in Los Angeles, where she discussed everything “Wild Side,” including embracing her sexuality, being grateful to have met Cardi B, and admitting that her new music “really saved” her while her mother was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

Normani said that her mother was the driving force behind her releasing “Wild Side” to the world.

“This past year, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Normani said in the interview. “For me, this work that I was able to put out into the world, like, this really saved me, to be completely honest. Even just being on FaceTime with her as she’s going through her chemo and her radiation, and just wanting me to update her on how this video is going and how the music is coming, it really got her through that. It got my family through the darkest time of our lives.”

She continued, “This was the second time that she had to go through cancer. The first time I was four. So for it to happen all over again, in such a pivotal and heightened moment for my career… there’s so many moments I was like, ‘I need to be at home, and I felt guilty for not being able to be physically there with her.”

Her mother, on the other hand, she claims, pushed her forward.

“I literally remember being in the doctor’s office with her,” recalled Normani, who tweeted about her mom’s diagnosis last fall. “Right after she had her surgery. This was in October. She’s like, ‘Baby; I’m gonna be fine. What I need you to do is focus. I need you to be Normani. I need you to be the best version of yourself. I need you to continue to work hard. We gotta get this music out. We have the world to impact.’ She was just like, ‘I’m gonna be fine.’ Anything that my mom says, to be completely honest, I believe.”

She added, “Her strength throughout her experience has been the strength that I’ve needed to even be able to allow this [song] to even be a thought.”

Normani also took a moment to congratulate Cardi B, “I just wish that the world could experience her the way I have,” said Normani. “I feel lucky to have been able to experience such a genuine person and a kindhearted person. For me, that goes a long way because, like I said, she didn’t have to go out [of] the way, you know. The fact that she even made the video — she’s pregnant! I know for her, I know that probably took a level of trust in me.

She shared a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the moment in which the two artists collaborate: “We actually had a bra and a panty on. She was pregnant. She was full. Obviously not as full as she is now, but she was showing. And she looked bomb.”

Normani said of releasing “Wild Side,” “For me, the main goal was really just to embrace my sexuality.” She said, “I’m a grown woman; I’m 25. I’ve evolved so much over the course of the last two years, so visually, I felt like that had to be in alignment with that.”

Normani assured her fans, who had been waiting for her record for a long time, that it was finally here; she said, “trust me. Part of it was me overthinking, yes, but also, I’ve been making the best music that I feel like I’ve personally ever created. In order to get to that place, I needed time.”