Normani is on 🔥🔥🔥 She just performed at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week and killed it and now she stopped by On Air with Ryan Seacrest on Thursday, September 19, to talk about her solo career and her smash hit "Motivation."
"The record [Motivation] was actually done, when I was presented it....I was looking for something that was really, really high energy. I wanted something that would help me capitalize off the fact that I love to dance." Normani explains. "I just wanted to do something different and the song gave me the opportunity to do that."
The track was co-written by Ariana Grande, along with Ilya Salmanzadeh, Max Martin and Savan Kotecha.
"I did have a lot of input on production and final touches and making it my own....and making it feel more Normani," she adds.
Normani got nostalgic in the music video for the song paying homage to Beyonce, Britney Spears and more.
"That was totally unintentional," she says. "I knew I wanted an early 2000s music video, because for as long as I can remember I was in my grandmother's living room watching like 106 & Park and looking at my favorite artists."
"I knew that I wanted to capture that time period," Normani continues. "But I didn't go through each set up saying, 'Okay, I'm going to pay homage to Bey, to Britney here, to Janet here.' It kind of just fell into place like that. When I saw online that the fans were doing side by sides, I was like, 'Oh that's dope.' I wish I actually put that much thought into it."
And how did she do that basketball trick?!
"I didn't think that was going to go right. In the beginning it did not look like that," Normani admits. "It was not equivalent to what you guys got in the video...I'm not able to look at the ball come down. So I kind of have to just time it right."
And we're not the only ones obsessed with this new era of Normani, Khalid is a fan too!
"I released a clip on Instagram of just an acapella and he was like, 'Send me the song, send me the song!'" she recalls. "I made him wait, but he was the first person that hit me up. He was like 'I love the record, you're such a star.' He's always so encouraging."
Awww, Khalid is the sweetest!
Listen to the full interview above for more from Normani!