Normani is opening up on her early career stage when she was a part of girl band Fifth Harmony.
Normani, now 28, was at a book launch at Neuehouse in Hollywood on Wednesday evening to support Law Roach’s How to Build a Fashion Icon: Notes on Confidence from the World’s Only Image Architect.
Normani held the conversation proudly as she reminisced how fashion was a way for her to be “vocal” as a Black woman in the music industry.
“I felt I could really depend and rely on my fashion to speak for me, which was really an outlet,” she told the crowd.
They were also joined by another former bandmate Keke Palmer where the conversation turned to the time before Fifth Harmony disbanded six years ago.
“It all ended so fast at a very high level,” Normani said about going from a group to a solo career. “I was just really grateful to have the opportunity to do things my way because I felt like for so long, I felt hidden.”
“I was the only Black girl. Not to say that the girls didn’t want to be there for me, but I don’t think that they knew how to because my experience was my own,” she added.
Normani’s highly anticipated solo debut Dopamine now released on June 14, supported by lead singles 1:59 featuring Gunna, Candy Paint, and All Yours.
Former bandmate Camila Cabello congratulated the singer on her album release, writing on Instagram, “putting out a project is vulnerable and hard and you are doing it beautifully ! congratulations on your first album and many more to come !!!!!!!!”
There were rumours earlier of a Fifth Harmony reunion by Ally Brooke but Normani has shut down the rumors as of recent, Billboard reported.
However, she didn’t dismiss the possibility of it entirely as she told the outlet, “I definitely see that being a possibility in the future. That would be a special moment for sure.”