CONSIDERING THE FACT that Beyoncé Knowles is one of the most successful artists of all time, and possibly the most powerful female name in the music industry, it’s hard to imagine that she gets excited about other artists very often. 

So that makes Beyoncé’s feelings towards former Fifth Harmony vocalist Normani Kordei Hamilton even more special. Last year, 22-year-old Normani told American radio station Hot 97 about the first time she met Beyoncé, and it was quite a story. While hanging with her friend Justine, Normani saw Beyoncé and decided she couldn’t leave without “finessing a pic”. 

 We just make our way over – and in my mind, I’m like, do I really wanna do this? Because this is scary for me. They say never meet your idols, but I heard nothing but great things and I knew she would be amazing. 

When Normani and Justine caught up with Beyoncé, it turned out that Beyoncé had been anticipating this moment for quite a while. Normani explained that Beyoncé didn’t even allow Normani an opportunity to introduce herself. 

She looked at me, she goes, “Oh my God! I been waiting so long to meet you!” In her little deep southern voice. [...] She’s like, “I been waiting so long to meet you. Everybody keeps telling me “Normani, Normani… This girl, you’ve gotta meet her, she’s amazing.” 

It took Normani a minute to compose herself, because she was fully convinced she was going to cry.  She thanked Beyoncé and told her, “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve looked up to you. Especially me being an African American female in the entertainment industry, you make me feel like I can do absolutely anything.” 

From Normani’s meeting with Beyoncé last spring, it’s only been up. In May 2018, she signed a modelling contract with Wilhelmina and collaborated with Calvin Harris, WizKid and Kehlani. Before she even reaches her 23rd birthday, she’ll join Ariana Grande on the North American leg of the Sweetener Tour (which reaches Ireland in September 2019 – support acts TBA). 

Normani’s career with Fifth Harmony, alongside Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane, began on The X Factor USA in 2012. After they finished in third place in the competition, they released two certified bangers - Worth It and Work From Home. After Cabello parted with the group, Fifth Harmony announced an indefinite hiatus, and since then, Normani has been forging a solo career for herself that has managed to excite Beyoncé. 

Normani’s first single outside of her career with Fifth Harmony was the duet Love Lies with Khalid, which was the soundtrack for the movie Love, Simon. At present, this song has over 110 million views on Youtube, which isn’t too far off Camila Cabello’s Never Be The Same, which has 181 million views. It’s still a long way off the views and streams of Havana, but could Normani be a hit or two away from catching up with Camila? 

Her debut album is set to release early this year, so we won’t be waiting too long to find out. 

Two weeks ago, Normani was featured on Sam Smith’s song Dancing With a Stranger, and already that song has hit 40 million views (and it’s probably been stuck in your head since then too, if you’ve spent even ten minutes listening to the radio while out and about in the car at any stage over the last fortnight). 

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Normani finally released a recorded version of Waves with 6LACK, a new song she debuted on Beats 1 and performed at Tidal-X in Brooklyn (a gig set up by Jay-Z’s streaming service Tidal, which is evidence enough to back up Normani’s story about her envious relationship with Beyoncé). 

After Normani premiered Waves on Beats 1, she promised that her album would be released in the first quarter of 2019. As the year is already flying by, that means we should be expecting it to drop within the next five weeks. If it’s enough for Beyoncé, it’s enough for us. 

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