Normani performed a delightful and expertly choreographed rendition of her new single Motivation at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday.
Recalling the songs video, Normani began the performance lounging on a basketball hoop before descending to a neon pink, makeshift court where she belted the track and ran through a impressive routine with an array of back-up dancers. Halfway through the song, Normani commandeered the stage solo for her own dance break before welcoming the troupe back for a bombastic finale.
Normani wrote Motivation with pops heaviest hitters: Ariana Grande, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, and Ilya Salmanzadeh, the same team behind previous Grande singles like Break Up With Your Girlfriend, Im Bored and No Tears Left to Cry. I recorded this song a while back, Normani told Rolling Stone before the release of the single. And its crazy because, Ill be on Twitter, and [fans] will be like, Sis, wheres the new music? Wheres the new music? Im like, Guys, its coming. I promise its coming Its going to be worth the wait.
When Normani finally released the track on August 16th, pent-up demand caused Motivation to immediately take off on streaming services. The dance-filled video quickly racked up more than 25 million views on YouTube.
Previous Normani singles have also performed well at radio both Love Lies and Dancing With a Stranger went Number One at Top 40 and Motivation is off to a strong start on the airwaves as well, up 1,000 spins week over week. The track debuted at Number 25 on theRS100.