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Normani: Dopamine review – pop’s longest-awaited debut almost defeats the trolls


The ex-Fifth Harmony member was tipped for huge success until creative differences and personal strife set her back, but she has confidently regained her footing by leaning into R&B

When they split in 2018, she quickly became the pop connoisseurs’ choice for assumed solo breakout success, a decision supported by a string of subsequent collaborations with acts including Khalid, Sam Smith and Calvin Harris. Recent single Candy Paint treads a similar path, its hypnotic, bare-boned beat seemingly created by hitting a few pots and pans, with an elated Normani riding the minimalist wave with the confidence of B’Day-era Beyoncé. The nonchalant Little Secrets channels that 2006 album more directly, referencing the chorus of Upgrade U but flipping its focus from improving a man to dismissing a prospective beau’s current partner: “let me upstage your bitch” Normani states with airy assurance.

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