Hey, y'all, DJ Louis here just dropping a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon all-access episode

in which Rolling Stones, Larisha Paul and I are breaking down the long-awaited debut album by Normani,

dopamine, which dropped last week.

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The feeling that I've had that there's tentativeness there on her part

and that has been what has, I don't want to say, derailed,

but I feel like that might actually be a useful word for what's happening here because here we are in 2024.

There's been so much hype and bust cycle around her.

Around the motivation moment, it really felt like that was the crest of the excitement beyond kind of the core Normani standum.

That was the moment where it felt like Normani busted through

into larger conversation as like a potentially exciting new solo act. When I think about Love Lies

and I think about Dancing with Stranger, both songs I really like, especially Dancing with Stranger.

I still don't think of those records as like moments where Normani like busted out as like a solo

force. Like I think about her as a nice duet partner who like did a good job on those records, but I also don't see those as like particularly personality forward records for her. So motivation was this really statement moment. Like here you have a song produced by Max Martin, written by Ariana Grande, as you mentioned, incredible video that really

showcased her one of her best and most exciting assets as a pop diva, which is her dance ability.

And then, you know, and the sort of overt references to the time period, the nostalgia kick of

like the video referencing baby one more time and Beyonce's videos, etc.

And then the sort of abandonment of that, I think, was really like a, you know, a hinge turning point. And then, you know, what we've gotten over the last, I don't know, five years or so is, you know, there was another attempt to relaunch with Wildside, which was like a much more overtly kind of like smooth R&B, Aaliyah Omage, obviously sampled one in a million with Cardi B.

Take me for a ride, boy.

Show me you outside, boy.

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