maaricle

If there was internal sabotage from her old team and / or an actual plan for her career, we wouldn't be seeing the two longstanding insiders on this thread either gone to the wind (@wheresjay rip) or basically newfound antis (@wildsidenormani lmao, no shade ofc)

Normani ate this up, my god I hope there's a video, but lemme not get my hopes up

Kween!!! This one should be at three billion

When Blake Lively was being dragged as the "villain" at the start of the movie's press tour, everyone—including me—piled on without a second thought. Now that stuff is coming out about Justin Baldoni, people are all, "both sides are bad, who cares, they're celebrities." Sexual harassment is not okay. Period. You don't have to care about Blake Lively to see how messed up this is. The New York Times receipts show that we were all pawns in a calculated effort to delegitimize a harassment allegation, by someone who's entire brand was "feminism". That should bother everyone. But expecting people with two brain cells to actually read and understand that might be too much to ask, I guess

Yeah, it's giving gaslighting. Her fans' (real ones, not the bad faith actors that have been popping up everywhere) feelings are valid about this disastrous rollout. Many of us have rode for her for years with these feelings. Much of it is likely beyond Normani's control at this point due to budgetary issues (that also could have been handled more strategically by her team over the years, which she herself alluded to in the Terrell interview re: spending), but there's no denying that there are ways she could be pushing her work that don't rely on the label that she simply isn't doing. She even comes close to saying as such in the Zach Sang interview, where she talks about the new era of the music industry requiring more self-promotion and specifically mentioned not liking the expectations that places on artists to do things like cater to a TikTok algorithm. Normani's feelings are valid too, and I genuinely don't want to project self-sabotage onto her since I don't know her personally, but it's clear that there is a lot of trauma that has made this process emotionally turbulent. I really hope that her attitudes towards self-promotion aren't fueled by a fear of success, because she does deserve to shine. All of these critiques don't discount that she was clearly not set up for success, with both the label's lack of belief in her work and the problems her old toxic manager left behind. And I hate that, because she deserves so much better. Personally, after following all the ups and the downs since X factor, I decided after the rollout of 1:59 to just accept that this is the current state of affairs until proven otherwise, for my own sanity. There's some fundamental disconnect, and I hope it changes, but I don't expect it to re: a suddenly perfect (or let's face it, an even halfway decent) promotional campaign. There are still things to be excited about. Let me see Normani's phone real quick

I said apparently bc I saw it being discussed on social media in a few Nation tweets Which clearly is a super reliable source From what I remember they were saying there was a deleted tweet from Zach that indicated that? They either misconstrued it or just made it up entirely I guess because Pure speculation, but maybe Normani and Terrell had an exclusive agreement (first video interview post-album release), and Zach had to wait until after that was aired to release? Regardless, really excited to watch this!

Did anyone get a chance to watch the Zach Sang interview that got pulled? Apparently Zach said they aren't reposting it I'm wondering if she spilled some real label tea or something

Like.... what's not clicking? I worked in social media, if Normani's team is reading this, let's chat Jk but also kind of not jk

We finally got the visuals ya'll

Production? Sublime, sleek. Artistry? Self-possessed, specific. Dare I say, inventive? She balances the sonic bombast in her portrayal of her southern roots with a more intimate, experimental blend of pop and r&b that could only come from her. Her unique signature. Cohesively her. I do have some critiques from a songwriting perspective (I was left craving more diversity in scope and subject matter because I know she has so much more to say beyond love and romantic relationships) but overall…. Excellence was served HOUSTON RAISED, NOLA BORN, R&B POP STAR DIVA ✨

What a DEBUT I'm on my third listen and I am still so OVERWHELMED As someone who has followed her career (with all the accompanying trauma) since X factor, part of me still hasn't fully processed that this is real Production? Sublime, sleek. Artistry? Self-possessed, specific. Dare I say, inventive? She balances the sonic bombast in her portrayal of her southern roots with a more intimate, experimental blend of pop and r&b that could only come from her. Her unique signature. Cohesively her. I do have some critiques from a songwriting perspective (I was left craving more diversity in scope and subject matter because I know she has so much more to say beyond love and romantic relationships) but overall…. Excellence was served HOUSTON RAISED, NOLA BORN, R&B POP STAR DIVA ✨

What a DEBUT I'm on my third listen and I am still so OVERWHELMED As someone who has followed her career (with all the accompanying trauma) since X factor, part of me still hasn't fully processed that this is real

She's trending #1 in the US on X With All Yours and Lights On trending #6 and #7 TASTE

If the Meg tea is true though, what in the (self-)sabotage is going on Still excited to get new music, but it will never not be frustrating to see all the missed opportunities her career has had thus far

Can someone please share with the class or just me where ya'll are getting this tea from if ya'll aren't trolling that is