Normani got candid about how her parents’ respective cancer diagnoses impacted her music career and her debut solo album, Dopamine.
After Normani, 27, discovered her parents, Andrea Hamilton and Derrick Hamilton, were both diagnosed with cancer, the first thing she thought was “‘F–k all of this.’”
“This is bigger than the music,” Normani told Who What Wear in an interview published on Thursday, February 22. “It’s bigger than what I’m trying to accomplish. This is life or death. All I wanted to do was be there for them.”
Although her family may have been going through a tough time, the “Love Lies” singer revealed that her music actually brought joy to her parents.
“Honestly, music got them through the cancer treatments,” Normani explained to the outlet. “I remember being on FaceTime with my mom while she was undergoing chemo and her asking me, ‘How’s the studio today? How’s the music coming?’ As hard as it was for me to not be with them as much as I wanted to, ultimately, pushing through made the circumstances of the last few years feel a bit lighter for my parents.”
Normani went on to say that seeing her parents go through cancer treatments made her realize she has an “opportunity to make an impact in this lifetime.”
“I know everything I’ve been through isn’t in vain,” she shared. “There’s always something that God wants me to see in the season. It’s all in service of making me better for all that he actually has in store for me.”
Normani revealed in October 2020 that her mom, Andrea, had been diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. Andrea first had breast cancer when the musician was five.
“I was a bit confused and didn’t really comprehend because I was so young,” Normani recalled to Entertainment Tonight in October 2017. “I didn’t understand the severity of breast cancer until my mom was getting her head shaved by my dad because her hair was falling out … then we understood what it was. It became real once I saw my mom in a different state.”
In August 2021, Normani tweeted that her mom had her final round of radiation. “GLORY!!!!” she shared.
Two years later, Normani revealed that her father, Derrick, was going through his own cancer battle.
“[When my mom was going through chemo] the thing that really kept her going was getting on FaceTime and being like, ‘How are the sessions going?’ She’s always so eager to hear the new records we’ve been working on,” she said in a promotional collaboration with Bose. “And then a year later when my dad ended up being diagnosed, he would say mid treatment, ‘I’m ready for you to take over the world.’”
Normani has yet to provide any more updates on her dad’s cancer battle.
