Normani Explains Rihanna’s Strange Compliment After Her Savage X Fenty Performance

Rihanna’s Fenty X Savage New York Fashion Week show special premiered on Amazon Prime Video recently, and aside from bold new looks, the event also featured a ton of performances. Normani was one of the artists who took the stage, and she revealed that after her performance, Rihanna paid her a strange compliment.

Normani stopped by 104.3 MYfm’s Valentine In The Morning, and when asked what it was like to work with Rihanna, she said, “It was so magical. It was funny because after I did my performance, she was like, ‘I don’t know if I love you or hate you.’ It was a compliment. She was jumping out of her chair when I was in dress rehearsals, just so excited, it was dope.”

She was then asked if it was intimidating to work with Rihanna, and she responded, “For me, I was excited more than anything. [She is] somebody I’ve looked up to for such a long time and somebody who I hope to follow the footsteps of. It was just really cool to be in the background of things and just kind of see just how she functions. Even her whole team, there’s so many people involved and she has it down to perfection.”

Normani also said she hopes to do many of the things Rihanna is doing outside of music: “I want to have a full empire. I want to have my own fragrance, I want to get into fashion, I want to get into the beauty space, [and] skincare.”

Rihanna previously complimented Normani’s performance on Twitter, writing, “NORMANNIIIIII you bad BIH!!!! Ugh why can’t I be you?! thank you sooo much sis! KILLED IT!!!” Normani responded, “this is actually my prayer every night !!! lol I literally just told Ed Shapiro ‘I wanna be Rih when I grow up.’ I love you trillions queen. thank you for allowing me to be a part of history.”

Find the full interview above and watch the Savage X Fenty Show special here,