Normani says she’s “grateful that everybody is just really excited” for ‘Dopamine’ release

The wait for Normani‘s new album, Dopamine, is almost over. With the release date set for Friday, she sat with Billboard and expressed her gratitude for fans’ excitement, despite delays and mishaps along the way.

“Everybody not necessarily knowing what is going on within the process or within my personal life … I’m just grateful that everybody is just really excited still for this album and for this body of work,” she tells Tetris Kelly. “They’ve waited on me, which I don’t really take for granted.”

Among the changes Normani experienced while recording her album was the shift in management from Brandon Silverstein‘s S10 Entertainment to Good World Management and Q10, which she says “has honestly been one of the greatest blessings.” In addition, Normani says she had to overcome “so much adversity and so many roadblocks just in the process of putting this body of work out,” which is why she named the album Dopamine.

The title is meant to reflect that she’s “finally stepping into who I’ve been called to be,” she explains.

Normani has teased Dopamine with “1:59” featuring Gunna, who “loved” the song when she played it for him; she also released “Candy Paint,” noting, “It doesn’t sound like, to me, anything that’s out right now, but it kind of has that nostalgia.”

Also expected on Normani’s Dopamine album are tracks and visuals inspired by Janet Jackson, and her own love of the late ’90s and early 2000s.

“She’s definitely paved the way, and when I think of the women that I aspire to follow the footsteps of, she’s definitely up there,” Normani says. She adds that Janet is one of the “most influential artists” in her life.

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