Normani Extends Dopamine Era with 2025 Album Announcement: Critic’s Take

Normani has recently announced that she will be releasing a new album in 2025, indicating that she is extending the “Dopamine” era.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, she expressed her intention to put out more music and move more this year, emphasizing a focus on releasing rather than just preparing. She also mentioned that the “Dopamine” era is not over, suggesting that fans can expect more from this phase of her career while she simultaneously works on her next project.

This news comes alongside her plans to perform at festivals and go on tour, showcasing her continued activity in the music scene.

In an interview with Rolling Stone at Spotify’s Wrapped party, Normani opened up about her plans to release another album in 2025. “Putting lots more music out, festivals, and a tour,” she said of her plans for next year. “Leave it to me to put out a new album too, a whole new body of work. I promised I wouldn’t make you guys wait that long anymore! I’m just putting things out and moving more this year, as opposed to preparation.”

Normani is feeling inspired by what’s going on in her life and she’s pouring it all into her upcoming album. “I’m experiencing so much in such a short period that I feel like I have a lot to talk about,” she said. “Dopamine was curated over four to five years, so it’s a lot of things that I had been through, but present day, I still have so much happening currently that I want to be able to talk about and share and get off just for myself.”

Relative to her peers, Normani’s social media presence is notably scant; her recent promo run in the months leading up to Dopamine is the most she’s spoken to the public since her “Wild Side” promo run back in 2021, which netted the Cardi B-assisted track a No. 14 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Instead of playing the forever-doomed game that is the blog circuit, Mani uses her music to issue a public service announcement about who exactly we’re dealing with on Dopamine.

“Bling-bling-blow, that’s all them platinum hits/ Bling-bling-blow, that’s all that Billboard s—t,” she spits on the grimy Starrah-assited opener, “Big Boy.” Across a brooding bassline peppered with funky horns, Normani immediately sets up shop in the South, namechecking icons like André 3000, Big Boi and Pimp C, while boasting about being “cornbread-fed.” Fifth Harmony may have exclusively consisted of women of color, but Normani’s specific identity — ‘00 Southern Black culture – didn’t often get a chance to shine. With Dopamine, Normani makes it a point to center those parts of herself, reclaiming the past ten years she’s spent in an industry that would rather pillage the South for its sound than use their resources to amplify those artists.