2 hours ago, Flare said:

Allegedly Brandon set Normani up for failure. I'm not surprised if true!

Normani helped S10 get off the ground from day 1, then he stopped prioritizing her as soon as S10 got clout off her back.

Just nasty.

I wouldn't be surprised either. We all speculated he was **** at his job, but when those clips surfaced I was disgusted at the thought of Normani's career in his hands. Gives me chills

yall are so damn gullible. stop setting yourselves up for disappointment.

i'm not gagging. she'll say stuff like this to make everyone believe she's coming and then she'll disappear for months on end and then she'll pop out again. just like clockwork.

i'll believe it when i can press play on spotify.

1 hour ago, wildsidenormani said:

yall are so damn gullible. stop setting yourselves up for disappointment.

i'm not gagging. she'll say stuff like this to make everyone believe she's coming and then she'll disappear for months on end and then she'll pop out again. just like clockwork.

i'll believe it when i can press play on spotify.

Hi so Normani didn't say or imply most of what we're discussing. If anything Lydia spilled most of the tea.

From the talk yesterday, I can really see Lydia is fighting for Normani, down to the fact they want to hand pick each member of her team and they acknowledged social media was her weak-point but once the era comes they will be fully engaging again.

They have seen all the criticisms even the small dumb ones and are ready ro try and put things on track.

I think they deserve that opportunity cause nobody can sit around and think Normani or any artist wants the "rollout" Dopamine got as their debut. Clearly some CRAZINESS was at play behind the scenes.

What impressed me too was how they acknowledged the performances and little bookings every month for the last 6 to 9 months were INTENTIONAL as they lead up to the era.

This is something I said several times in this thread (aka the "big rollout to nothing") except it is indeed leading to the era. It's all to keep Normani's name out there until the album era starts. That's good management as long as the album does drop after it.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Flare

2 hours ago, Cbreezy said:

FINALLY!

It's crystal clear that NDAs, industry etiquette, and setting up a firm landing elsewhere are what have kept them quiet, but this is the exact degree of candidness that helps her personal PR.

Being honest like this positively massages her perception with the GP. I get that outright JoJo honesty may not have been in Mani's best interest if still angling to exist in the major label system post-RCA. But she reclaims her power from the haters and educates the confused by giving some semblance of context. The radio silence allowed others to make her a punchbag and a punchline.

The apparent Brandon tea is my kind of reveal, because it's extremely nuanced in a way that makes the extent of her awkward position make so much more sense.

Piecing together things, I get the vibe...

• The deals in place probably mandated that x number of songs by x producers/writers HAD to be on the album. Probably explains why she seemed somewhat laissez-faire about some of the music on the album.
  

• Missing split sheets is crazy. It may sound like a small thing, but it means any song in that mix-up almost certainly is subject to possible legal action if one writer "felt" they did more than credited for. Imagine that song is now synced in a commercial (like Candy Paint headphone ad), that's chaos waiting to happen.
  

• I actually am not convinced it's totally a Brandon-only thing. I really geek out over titles. Yes, he was her manager, and it's clear her whole career under him was mismanaged (deals, label liaisons, etc). While that can be a very vast and all-encompassing role, it doesn't always have legal remit over the label/music. Mani was signed to RCA via Tunji's subsidiary, which then folded even before Wild Side, IIRC. Who's to say contractual agreements over who she had to work with, who was guaranteed slots on the album, splits, etc. weren't tethered to the Tunji era and had to be upheld when she was absorbed into RCA?

• All of the above probably affects the visual aspect too

IMO, the present feels like:

* She is off RCA (this much I feel I even had confirmed offline)

* Not convinced she's had a new label this whole time; they were probably shopping a deal. As of now, they're talking like something is in place. Very interested in who it could be. Another major? Jive recently relaunched. Uptown Records relaunched. Could she do a Raye and go the premium indie route?

* They are lining up the right endorsement partnerships to properly fund the vision. Not sure I buy that she has the kind of leverage needed to yield a huge deal at a new label. What feels more plausible is a "decent" deal, which, if they're on it, will be more of a label services partnership and gives her lots of flexibility re what she records, who she works with, and when it's allowed to drop. It'll likely be a light investment with flexibility to plug in brands for video placement to fund the type of visuals she's trying to create.

* The 5H reunion is clearly happening and she will use it as the springboard for her solo return. I think we need to manage expectations about what that means for the "when". It's August and there's no 5H announcement of yet. So, realistically, any kind of tour is looking like next year. Earliest end of this year. With that, if Mani is using it to her benefit, her ish will be after. Most we may get is a new label announcement.

* More performances for visibility and coin $.

I wanna put this in a separate post but LMAO this is crazy cause when I saw the "split sheet" thing, I IMMEDIATELY thought "oh this is about Candy Paint isn't it".

I'm so glad to see knowledgeable people enter the thread cause there's things I wanna say but it's way too music industry deep for this thread at times.

Like we just wanna gag at wigs, performances, and outfits sometimes not type essays.

Normani liking the least streamed song on Dopamine and Lydia liking All Yours the most shows me that Lydia needs to pick all of Normani's future singles LOL.

3 hours ago, Topaz said:

Normani liking the least streamed song on Dopamine and Lydia liking All Yours the most shows me that Lydia needs to pick all of Normani's future singles LOL.

Clocked this, too! Can we talk...

All the drama aside, I do find her own decisions a little puzzling at times. And absolutely feel they do factor into "how" bad things can get. Almost like a fuel on the fire lit by someone else type sitch.

Because we've spoken ad nauseum about the Motivation through to Wild Side era arc, let's take Dopamine rollout, for example.

It's clear it was always going to end up this way, BUT why not put best foot forward commercially? It's a little concerning to hear a bonafide bop like All Yours being benched in favor of whatever they went with for the single. Also, Mani's seeming inability to tease apart what **she** likes (e.g. Distance...personal blah blah) and what's good for business (All Yours). In a climate where all it takes is one good song to reverse a bad situation, she needs to consistently be calculated about her moves. This faux-deep-artiste ish screws a lot of the girls over in the long-run. Until they have success and automony, the name of the game ought to always be: thinking with a commercial mind.

There is a world where Beyonce loved Daddy most on Dangerously in Love lol, but she and her team knew it was gonna have to be an endless onslaught of bops as the singles: Crazy in Love, Baby Boy, Naighty Girl, hell even Me Myself and I is catchy af. Now, she's in a position where she can do what she wants.

In short, Mani thankfully now has a manager with actual A&R credentials in her arsenal. She definitely ought to use it to her benefit.

12 hours ago, wildsidenormani said:

yall are so damn gullible. stop setting yourselves up for disappointment.

i'm not gagging. she'll say stuff like this to make everyone believe she's coming and then she'll disappear for months on end and then she'll pop out again. just like clockwork.

i'll believe it when i can press play on spotify.

We've been fooled before but we've also never had this many performances and appearances back to back