American singer-songwriter, acclaimed performer, and member of girl band Fifth Harmony Normani Kordei has went through her fair share of waiting in the musical wilderness. Even after leaving an indelible watermark as pop and R&B’s next doyenne with singles such as “Love Lies”, “Motivation” and assists like Sam Smith’s “Dancing With a Stranger”, Normani found herself wasting away as an unwitting and unjustified benchwarmer as years and years went on without any definitive release date for her long overdue debut album. Six long years after the project was officially announced, Normani has birthed her first studio album as a solo artist titled Dopamine.
A predominantly progressive R&B album punctuated with tinctures of dance, hip-hop, and pop, the sonic architecture of Dopamine is handled by an all-star lineup, including producers such as Stargate, TBHits, and Jarami. Lasting for 41 minutes, Normani’s solo discography starter is aptly named after the artist’s penchant for crafting short but enticing hedonism-fueled songs which not only target pleasure centers but also arouse those primal instincts that search for nothing but short-lived stimulation.
Normani’s trump card has always been her ability to sit astride her unapologetic and frontier-defying femininity without letting it throw her off its back – as already graphically depicted on her enthralling album cover below. From her on-stage exploits to her vocal gymnastics, she’s been able to consummate the marriage of both these facets without neglecting the other. The result is a complete musician looking to the playbook of the likes of Usher, Chris Brown, and Beyonce.
Dopamine album art
This leverage plays a huge part in the thematic scaffolding of Dopamine, with Kordei structuring the album with themes of eroticism and love (“All Yours” and “1:59”), body and sex positivity (“Grip” and “Candy Paint”), as well as feminine strength (“Lights On” and “Take My Time”). Coupled with the diverse production team, Normani is not only able to maximise her extensive vocal range but also her musical versatility.
The ushering track of the album, “Big Boy”, “Little Secrets”, and “Wild Side”, but only to an extent, feature glitch-reliant sound upholstery, the material mimicking something cut straight from the cloth of Timbaland’s early 2000s production tailored for the late princess of R&B Aaliyah. Energetic and dynamic, the trio serve not only as climatic fire starters but moments of magic that capture the imagination with measured vocal performances, sure-footed lyricism, and amiable cockiness. Qualities that permeate the album in its entirety but without smothering the contents.
“All Yours”, an unorthodox R&B rendition formulated from soft hi-hats and a simmering bass, helps Normani in phasing into her pocket as she surfs on the melodies. As one of the album’s high moments, along with the infectious “Grip”, Normani taps into her siren-like energy, her crooning a sharp hook that holds fast to the attention given, cocooning the ear with mesmeric onomatopoeia and incantatory promises of a good time with her.
Normani’s album is properly christened among other things. She neither oversings nor does she explore anything that’s beyond her musical wheelhouse. And yet the execution reeks of seasoned artistry which belie the fact that this is her first stab at a full length album with nobody else’s name on it. Whether or not it was worth the wait is a verdict that will be passed by the passage of time and the ever-prevailing court of public opinion. However, the objective was clear: to give pleasure. Normani delivered.
Listen to Dopamine:
