Normani, formerly of the girl group Fifth Harmony, has been dipping her toes in the pool and finding out where she fits in the music industry as a solo artist. She has a collection of duets: “Love Lies” with Khalid, “Waves” with 6lack, and “Dancing With A Stranger” with Sam Smith– the latter being a commercial success in the US and UK. Slowly the public is getting to know Normani, her magic really started to shine through from her electric stage performances as an opening act on Ariana Grande’s Sweetener World Tour. She displayed raw talent, athleticism, and an extremely inviting stage presence, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that she absolutely killed it in her “Motivation” music video. She honestly took the music world’s breath away, Twitter was and is still buzzing with how she’s the “next one”.
I don’t want to talk about anything else today but @normani! It’s been yearssss since I felt such an intense rush of euphoria from a video/Song! It was so overwhelming all I could do was bawl! We are witnessing a Legend! We are witnessing GREATNESS & I’m alive to see it! 😭🙏🏾❤️ pic.twitter.com/q0JdMYOBnO
— امل نوح (@AmaalNuux) August 16, 2019
The video opens with a younger version of Normani watching BET’s 106 & Park and emulating the dance moves she sees in the music video playing. It’s a beautiful nod to how important representation is and why it matters. It’s also weird to see 106 & Park as somewhat nostalgic even though it officially ended in 2014. The song starts playing and Normani is seen strutting her stuff in a white crop top and jeans, giving us subtle shades of Beyonce in her music video for the 2003 hit “Crazy In Love”. She then continues to dazzle in a custom graffiti style fit designed by Jolleson and starts breaking it down with some serious dance moves. The dancing doesn’t stop there, Normani keeps dancing until the music video is over, she’s twerking on a fence, showing us her sick-ass basketball skills while still dancing and giving us an Omarion Touch styled dance duet.
Then she really gets to work in a sexy matching crystal teddy and shorts and some “come f**k me boots”, doing neck-breaking gymnastic moves in the rain. The scene is very reminiscent of the final dance in the movie Step Up 2, but better. It ends with a group dance between the ladies and the fellas, because why not, Normani obviously wants to prove that she has superwoman lungs.
Motivation is clearly a tribute to the late ’90s and early 2000s with references to J’Lo’s “I’m Real” and Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” basketball scenes in their respective music videos. There are also subtle nods to Janet Jackson’s “All For You” and 3LW’s “No More” (Baby I’ma Do Right)” in the video. As for the song itself, it has an infectious horn-filled beat which has a certain “Crazy In Love” and Amerie “One Thing” vibe to it and her recent tour mate Ariana Grande, is one of the songwriters that helped pen this sweet R&B/pop record. Dave Meyers and Daniel Russell directed this masterpiece, Dave Meyers really doesn’t miss. Normani, if this is just a taste of what’s to come, then we can’t wait to see what you do next.
WATCH THE VIDEO, IT WILL HELP SOLVE ALL OF YOUR PROBLEMS!
By Tomi Otekunrin
