2012–2018: The X Factor and Fifth Harmony event in 2013 as a member of
Fifth Harmony Normani auditioned for the second season of
The X Factor USA in 2012 with a performance of "
Chain of Fools" by
Aretha Franklin that earned approval from all four judges. She was cut during the second round of boot camp, but was invited back to the show to perform as part of a group with
Ally Brooke,
Lauren Jauregui,
Dinah Jane, and
Camila Cabello. That group, later naming itself
Fifth Harmony, made it to the finale, finishing in third place. In October 2013, Fifth Harmony released their first EP,
Better Together. The group released their debut album,
Reflection, in 2015, and their second album,
7/27, in 2016. The latter two albums spawned the hit singles "
Worth It" and "
Work from Home", respectively.
Time referred to them as arguably "the biggest girl group in the world" at the time. Normani became the quartet's
de facto leader, leading solos and choreography. Her onstage confidence in the group caught the attention of executive
Tunji Balogun, who founded
RCA's imprint
Keep Cool, and manager
Brandon Silverstein, who began working with Normani in late 2017. On March 19, 2018, the group announced their decision to take an indefinite hiatus to pursue solo careers.
2015–2020: Solo projects In 2015, Normani released two dance videos performing
Future's "
Fuck Up Some Commas" and
Teyana Taylor's "Do Not Disturb" on her
YouTube channel. From February 2016 through January 2017, Normani released covers of several songs, including
Tory Lanez's "
Say It" and mashups of
Drake's "
Fake Love"/"
Sneakin'", and
Solange's "
Cranes in the Sky"/"
Don't Touch My Hair", with the help of the producers The Invaders. Normani competed on
season 24 of
Dancing with the Stars from March through May 2017, alongside her dancing partner, professional ballroom dancer
Valentin Chmerkovskiy. They reached the finals and finished in third place. In early August 2017, Normani had a cameo in singer
Khalid's music video for "
Young Dumb & Broke". In October 2017, it was announced that Normani had signed to management company S10 Entertainment as a solo artist. S10 Entertainment later partnered with
Roc Nation to manage their artists, including Normani. She was also reported to have signed a publishing deal to Stellar Songs in early February 2018. Normani's duet with Khalid, "
Love Lies" from the soundtrack for
romantic teen comedy-drama film
Love, Simon (2018), was released in February 2018. It was included on the film's
soundtrack of the same title, which was curated by
Jack Antonoff. The song was considered a
sleeper hit, reaching the top 10 on the
Billboard Hot 100, and peaking at number 9 after charting for 28 weeks. "Love Lies" scored the highest first-week position for a single by a girl group member in the US, debuting at number 43 on the
Billboard Hot 100. "Love Lies" reached number 1 on the
Mainstream Top 40 chart, and charted for forty five weeks, tying the then record for longest charting song on the chart with
Dua Lipa's "
New Rules". The song was later placed on former U.S. President
Barack Obama's 2019 year-end favorite songs list. In April 2018, following Fifth Harmony's indefinite hiatus, it was announced that Normani had become the first ever artist to sign to
Keep Cool/
RCA Records, ahead of the release of her debut solo album. The following month, it was reported that Normani signed to a modeling contract with
Wilhelmina. Over the next few months,
Billboard announced that Normani was collaborating with
Calvin Harris and
Kehlani. In August 2018, Normani was featured alongside Kehlani on
Jessie Reyez's remix to her song "
Body Count", which was featured on Reyez's
Grammy-nominated EP,
Being Human in Public. She also appeared alongside
Davido on
Quavo's song "
Swing", from his debut solo album
Quavo Huncho (2018). That month, Normani signed on to a
Puma campaign to endorse the brand's RS-0 shoes. On October 22, 2018, Normani and Calvin Harris released their
EP,
Normani x Calvin Harris, which features the songs "
Checklist" with
Wizkid and "
Slow Down". The following day, she performed the two songs alongside a new song, "
Waves" featuring
6lack, at the
Tidal X Brooklyn concert. She then released "Waves" and premiered it on the music radio station
Beats 1 on November 15, 2018. The accompanying music video for "Waves" later won the reintroduced
MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. In December 2018, It was announced "Love Lies" was the most streamed song ever from a female artist by South Africa audiences on
Spotify. Normani was also named the Top Female Breakout Artist of 2018 by Spotify. In her interview with Beats 1, Normani said that her debut album would be released in the first quarter of 2019, and its title is a number. The song reached number 1 on the
Adult Top 40 chart. It was the most-played global radio song in 2019, according to
Forbes. The song earned her a nomination for
Song of the Year at the 2020
Brit Awards. One year into her solo career, Normani became the fastest solo artist (without an album) to surpass one billion combined streams on
Spotify. In March 2019, she was the supporting act for
Ariana Grande's first leg of the
Sweetener World Tour in North America. In April 2019, the singer made a surprise guest appearance during Khalid's
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance set. In May 2019, Normani was named the most discovered artist by Indian
millennials on Spotify India in its first 60 days, since the app was made available in the country on February 26, 2019. Additionally,
Billboard announced that she was the most-discovered artist that brings
Z,
X and
Boomers together on Spotify. In August 2019, Normani performed a set at
Lollapalooza music festival. Later that month, she released the single "
Motivation", co-written by Grande, and her first single without a featured artist. The song reached the top 40 in multiple countries, including the U.S., where it peaked at number 33. Its accompanying music video earned praise from music critics who compared her choreography to artists like
Michael Jackson and
Britney Spears.
E! News dubbed the music video as one of the pop culture moments that defined 2019. In September 2019, Normani performed a dance sequence on the
Savage X Fenty Show by
Rihanna, which premiered on
Amazon Prime Video. Normani then announced that her debut album would be released in 2020, stating "it is a little more than halfway" complete. Later that month, the singer joined
The Voice as an advisor. In October 2019,
The Guardian ranked her as one of the 25 greatest female pop-group performers of all time. The following month, Normani was announced as the first brand ambassador of
Savage X Fenty. Normani collaborated with
Ariana Grande and
Nicki Minaj on the song "
Bad to You", for the
soundtrack of the 2019 film ''
Charlie's Angels'', released in November 2019. Normani teamed up with the
National Basketball Association for a holiday themed commercial, which included her reinterpretation of "
Winter Wonderland" called "Ballin' in a Christmas Wonderland". In January 2020, Normani joined rapper
Megan Thee Stallion on the song "
Diamonds", which served as the lead single for
the soundtrack of the superhero film
Birds of Prey (2020). Normani was named in the
Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2020. In February 2020, she was listed on
BET's "Future 40" list, which is a list of "40 of the most inspiring and innovative vanguards who are redefining what it means to be unapologetically young, gifted & black". In June 2020, Normani joined
Urban Decay as a global citizen and a campaign spokesperson for the makeup brand. In August 2020, Normani made a cameo in
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's music video for "
WAP", alongside
Kylie Jenner and
Rosalía.
2021–present: Dopamine and other ventures In March 2021, it was announced that "Dancing with a Stranger" was one of the
most-streamed songs by a female artist in the United Kingdom ever. On July 15, 2021, Normani released "
Wild Side", featuring
Cardi B. The song peaked at number 14 on the
Billboard Hot 100, and reached number 1 on the
Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart. In August 2021, Normani made a cameo in
Baby Keem and
Kendrick Lamar's music video for "
Family Ties". That same month, it was announced that she would star in the 2022
Pirelli Calendar. Normani also performed "Wild Side" as a musical guest act on
Rihanna's
Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3, which premiered on Amazon's
Prime Video service on September 24, 2021. In October 2021, she partnered with
Steve Madden for a reprisal of their
1990s "Big Head Girls" campaign. The campaign helped lead the company to their highest quarterly sales in history. Normani was awarded
Best Dance Performance for
"Wild Side" at the
2021 BET Soul Train Music Awards on November 28, 2021. She did an interview with
Entertainment Tonight following her win where she was asked if she had a message for her fans. She responded with "Summer's gonna be lit" referencing when her album will be released. That same month, Normani collaborated with
Google for an interactive
Black Friday campaign, that helped highlight black owned businesses. She also starred in its accompanying commercial titled
Google: Black-Owned Friday, which was directed by
Daps, and featured an original song by Normani alongside rapper
T-Pain, that sampled "
Wake Up Everybody" by
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. For her contribution to the campaign, Normani received multiple accolades including the
Webby Awards,
Clio Awards, and
D&AD Awards. The singer was also awarded Collaborator of the Year at the
Variety Hitmakers Brunch on December 4, 2021, honoring the meticulously picked collaborations released by the artist, while simultaneously updating the fans on the reasoning behind her album delay in an interview conducted by
Variety. Normani released "
Fair" on March 18, 2022, and performed the song on
The Tonight Show the day of its release. On April 6, 2022, the singer was announced as the face of
Cracker Jill, for which she sang a reimagined version of the song "
Take Me Out to the Ball Game", along with an accompanying music video. That same day, she was also announced as the face of AMI Paris' photo campaign for the French brand's L'Accordéon bag, according to
Vogue France. On May 5, 2022, it was announced that Normani signed a publishing deal with
Hipgnosis Songs Group. On June 6, 2022, Normani was featured on the remix of her childhood friend
Josh Levi's song "Don't They". Later that month, Normani appeared in singer
Chris Brown's music video for his song "
WE (Warm Embrace)", though she received criticism from fans due to his extensive history of violence toward women. On July 29, 2022, Normani released the single "
New to You" alongside
Calvin Harris,
Tinashe and
Offset, for Harris' album
Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2. In February 2023, she voiced the character Giselle, a member of the fictional '90s music group The Soul Vibrations, on the second season of the animated
Disney+ television series
The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder. In June 2023, Normani collaborated with
Bose Corporation to release alongside a dance-themed commercial, previewing her single "
Candy Paint". On August 7, 2023, Normani announced via
Rolling Stone that she split with the management company S10 Entertainment, and signed a new management deal with managers Brandon Creed and Lydia Asrat. That same month, Normani partnered with Bose Corporation to design custom limited edition "QuietComfort II" headphones. According to
Billboard, the headphones were an ode to her single "Candy Paint", and featured a "metallic purple colorway that channels a candy paint job on car". On February 21, 2024, Normani posted a website called "wheresthedamnalbum" on X (formerly known as
Twitter). She announced her debut album
Dopamine, alongside its cover art, which was released on June 14. She released two singles off the album, "
1:59" (featuring
Gunna) on April 26 and "
Candy Paint" on May 31, as well as one visual promotional video. It was later announced that the previously released single "
Wild Side" would also be featured on the album. The project received mixed to positive reception, selling 12,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, 2,000 of which were pure sales. In March 2024, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of
International Women's Day, Normani was one of a number of celebrities had their likeness turned into
Bratz dolls. On June 6, 2025, Normani was featured on a remix to singer
Ciara's single "
Ecstasy", which also featured
Teyana Taylor. In November 2025, Normani launched her eponymous fashion brand in partnership with online clothing retailer
Shein. In 2026, Normani competed in
season fourteen of
The Masked Singer as the wild card contestant "Crane". She finished in fourth place and did an encore of "Love Lies" with Khalid (who was the "bestie" that helped with the final clue). == Artistry==