Normani has had to weather some private battles. The singer and former “Fifth Harmony” member recently revealed that her father Derrick Hamilton was diagnosed with cancer. That diagnosis came just a year after her mother, Andrea Hamilton was battling cancer for the second time.
The singer shared this part of her life in a new commercial for Bose where she also talked about the unifying power of music in her family’s life, and her fastidious creative process amongst other things. She also teased a new single, “Candy Paint.”
Music As Connection
The Bose commercial opens with the “Wild Side” singer in a studio rehearsing for a dance before cutting to her in a studio. In it Normani talks about how music helped her family bond during the most difficult times.
In her words, “[When my mom was going through chemo] the thing that really kept her going was getting on FaceTime and being like, ‘How are the sessions going?’ She’s always so eager to hear the new records we’ve been working on. And then a year later when my dad ended up being diagnosed, he would say mid-treatment, ‘I’m ready for you to take over the world.'”
Fans received the news with surprise, calling for more understanding as Normani has been criticized for her irregular pattern of releasing music. She has also been hounded for new music since her last record “Fair”.
As one fan notes, “Normani got so much hate for not releasing music just to find out BOTH her parents been battling cancer…. Y’all put unrealistic expectations on artist as if they also aren’t human. It’s WEIRD.”
A Possible Return
Alongside news of her father’s diagnosis, Normani also shared the teaser of an upcoming single she calls “Candy Paint.” In the latter part of her Bose commercial, Normani breaks out into a dance, with “Candy Paint” playing in the background. The singer didn’t share a release date for the single or if it is a prequel to an album.
However, in an interview with Billboard, she described the record as “Texas, all the way!” She also shared that she wanted to make a record that encapsulated her truest personality.
“I feel like there’s a misconception; it probably has everything to do with my social media. I think that people think I’m so serious, which is the complete opposite [of me]. Anybody that really knows me knows that I’m really funny,” she said. It’s a performance record first, which I know my fans have been waiting for, for a very long time. It’s fun, energetic, bossy. It’s bold. It’s sassy but assertive, and yeah, I’m really excited to shoot the music video.”