Normani Kordei finished third on The X Factor. Then Brandy joined her debut

She auditioned alone and finished third with Fifth Harmony

Before The X Factor, Normani competed in dance, gymnastics and beauty pageants from age three. She recorded her first song at 13 and appeared in the HBO series Treme. In 2012, she auditioned for the competition’s second season with Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” and earned approval from all four judges. On July 27, she became part of the five-piece group that became Fifth Harmony, with Simon Cowell as its mentor. Their performances included “Impossible” at judges’ houses and “Give Your Heart a Break” with Demi Lovato in the final. Normani finished third with the group.

“Motivation” followed two Top 10 duets

Her first solo releases arrived while Fifth Harmony was approaching its March 2018 hiatus announcement. In February, she and Khalid released “Love Lies” for the Love, Simon soundtrack; it reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Dancing with a Stranger”, with Sam Smith, followed in January 2019 and reached No. 7. On August 16 that year, she released “Motivation”, her first solo song without another artist. She wrote it with Ariana Grande, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and producer Ilya. Its video, directed by Dave Meyers and Daniel Russell, featured Sean Bankhead’s choreography and references to music videos from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“Wild Side” gave her family something to work toward

In October 2020, Normani announced that her mother Andrea’s breast cancer had returned. During chemotherapy and radiation, Andrea asked for updates about her daughter’s recording sessions and video work over FaceTime. In July 2021, Normani explained to Power 106 how making “Wild Side”, featuring Cardi B, had helped them: “It got my family through the darkest time of our lives.” Her father Derrick received a cancer diagnosis a year after her mother’s second cancer battle. In her June 2024 Rolling Stone interview, Normani described how the pain affected her ability to create, get up and work. These were experiences behind the gaps between releases.

She used the album wait as her website address

By June 2024, the wait for an album had become part of Normani’s public life. She had teased a solo album in 2018, and her posts about it had become memes. “I can’t post anything without hearing about music,” she told Bustle. She used wheresthedamnalbum.com to tease Dopamine. In the same interview, she spoke about rebuilding confidence through trusting her instincts and asking for further work on songs that other people considered finished. She had discovered that producing was her favorite part of making music. Completing the album involved learning which decisions she wanted to make for herself.

Brandy helped her build “Insomnia”

When describing “Insomnia” in 2024, Normani recalled bringing producer Stargate a reference drawn from Brandy’s music. She wanted layers of background vocals, harmonies and countermelodies, and asked Brandy to help with the vocal production. Brandy loved the song and joined the recording. “Insomnia” had survived a change of plan: Normani told Bustle that it had been taken off the album and put back on. Another collaboration began when Normani contacted James Blake and asked him to work with her. Their song “Tantrums” went through multiple versions. She told Vogue that Blake supported her ideas and made the process feel more peaceful, while “Wild Side” had helped her identify a sound that felt authentic.

Dopamine arrived on June 14, 2024

Dopamine was released through RCA on June 14, 2024, and reached No. 91 on the Billboard 200. The album opened with “Big Boy” and included “Candy Paint”, “1:59” and the Cardi B collaboration. Its release gave Normani a chance to describe what completing the work meant. “I think a weight has been lifted, for sure,” she told Vogue in an interview conducted on release day. She wanted to celebrate herself and recognize what she had put into the project. Her plan for that evening was a small dinner with family, friends and management, with time to reflect on finishing the album.

Freaky Tales gave her a screen role in 2025

Freaky Tales reached cinemas on April 4, 2025, with Normani playing Entice. Set in Oakland in 1987, the film placed her in the aspiring rap duo Danger Zone alongside Dominique Thorne’s Barbie. Their story included a battle against Too $hort, played by Symba, at Sweet Jimmie’s. Normani’s music work that year included Ciara’s “Ecstasy (Remix)” with Teyana Taylor, released on June 6 through Beauty Marks Entertainment. She took the first verse after Ciara’s opening chorus. Normani said she had looked up to both women for years and described recording with them as a personal full-circle moment.

• Listen to “Ecstasy (Remix)” on Apple Music

Crane brought her back to a singing final in 2026

In 2026, Normani competed as Crane on season 14 of The Masked Singer. Her performances included the Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There”, Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and Ariana Grande’s “Break Free”. In the April 1 finale, she sang Janet Jackson’s “Together Again” and finished fourth. The broadcast also brought her back to the duet that had started her solo recording career. After her identity was revealed, she performed “Love Lies” with Khalid as an encore. Eight years after that single’s release, the pair sang it together on another television competition.

Her 2026 concerts reached Princeton and São Paulo

On September 6, 2026, Normani headlined Princeton University’s Fall Lawnparties on Frist North Lawn. She started at 3:15 p.m. and performed for just under an hour, closing with “Love Lies” and “Dancing with a Stranger”. She was the first pop artist to headline the event in two years. Student performers opened for her before the main set. On October 17, she performed at Meli Music at Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu in São Paulo. Her set included Fifth Harmony songs, and she spoke Portuguese to the crowd.

• Normani Kordei: career and music
• Listen to Normani Kordei on Spotify
• Listen to Normani Kordei on Apple Music
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