Normani Revealed to The Fader How Being in Fifth Harmony Impacted Her

Normani adorns the cover of The Fader, and she's opening about life as a member of Fifth Harmony and finding freedom in being a solo artist.

She spoke with the magazine for its upcoming winter issue, and the singer addressed how she never felt true to herself while she was a member of the group. "I don't feel like while I was in the group anyone saw the truest version of me,” she said. “I wasn't allowed the opportunity to showcase that. I'm not able to go in in the way that I want to [because] of what the group was."

She noted that she and some other members of the group felt they weren't given the freedom to perform how they wished, and added, “We would be like, 'Yo, we want to write it, we want to contribute, we have perspective. We're not just girls that you put in a girl group.'” Despite the struggles that accompanied Fifth Harmony's rise to the top, she did acknowledge that things worked out: "We survived, you know? Through all the B.S., the good, the bad, the four of us were the last four standing, and we owed [recording one last album] to ourselves, each other, and our fans."

Now that she's pursuing a solo career, Normani told The Fader, she's discovering what music means to her. She has an incredibly busy schedule, including a tour with Ariana Grande, which pushed back the release of her debut album, and she's still working on the release. "I’m doing this as therapy for me,” she said. “To be able to get to know myself in a way that hasn't even been revealed yet, to be vulnerable in a way that I haven't been before. I want this to be like a diary of all women — to reflect and showcase the many layers of us. We're not one-dimensional."

Normani hasn't been shy about addressing the impact of her time with Fifth Harmony. During a September interview, she said that "Motivation" was one of the first times she experienced true creative freedom. “Being in an entity and being who you are within that, I couldn’t tap into who Normani was 110%," she told Zach Sang. Based on the reception to her video, it's clear Normani has truly discovered her musical identity, and now the sky is the limit for this star.

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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Normani's “Motivation” Was Her First Opportunity to Be “110%” Herself Following Her Fifth Harmony Days

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue