Normani
Dopamine
RCA
Who would’ve imagined that the soul-struck 21st century “girl group” Fifth Harmony would become a hotbed of flourishing musical personalities, with the likes of Lauren Jauregui and Camila Cabello experimenting with electronica and Latinx pop? Forever the holy grail of solo-dom for the 5-H club, however, became Normani Kordei—known mononymously as Normani—and her off-and-on attempts at a career away from the Fifth. Her newly released debut Dopamine is a fine answer to the question she once teasingly posed, even if it happens to be an occasionally tepid response to seething, anticipatory fans.
Co-written and -produced with Victoria Monét’s righthand person, TBHits (Monét herself appears on “Insomnia” and “Lights On”), and the Stargate team, Dopamine is a sleekly chic R&B album that sounds right at home in 2024. Touched by the spirit of rude-boy (“1:59” featuring Gunna) and rough-girl (“Wild Side” with Cardi B) hip-hop, Dopamine wanders around drunkenly in the dry, icy air of ambient soul on “Tantrums” (featuring James Blake) and the aptly titled “Distance.” Along with the OutKast-lite of “Big Boy” and the pop-funk of “Take My Time,” those moments are truly where Dopamine comes most alive—which is a shame, because several of these aforementioned best-of-show songs are interpolated tracks originally sung by Brandy and Aaliyah. There’s nothing wrong with nodding to the past, and interpolation is a skill. But what about innovation?
To that question, Dopamine is mostly shooting blanks, sticking instead to a flat-lining, one-mood-fits-all soundtrack of listless soul and simmering-without-boiling-over vocal tics. With all of the time taken to create the record, and considering that its chemical nomenclature is designed to stimulate the brain and the body’s neurons, Normani’s take on neurotransmission hardly brings about a pulse.
