Normani Says Working on 'Wild Side' While Her Mother Battles Breast Cancer 'Really Saved Me'

Working on new music has helped Normani during a difficult time.

Speaking to Power 106 following the release of her song "Wild Side" with Cardi B, the "Checklist" singer, 25, spoke about what it was like to work on music while her mother Andrea Hamilton battles breast cancer.

"This past year, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer," Normani said. "For me, this work that I was able to put out into the world really saved me, to be completely honest. Even just being on FaceTime with her as she's going through her chemo and her radiation, and just wanting me to update her on how this video is going, and how the music is coming, it really got her through that. It got my family through the darkest time of our lives."

"This was the second time that she had to go through cancer. The first time I was four. So for it to happen all over again, in such a pivotal and heightened moment for my career... there's so many moments I was like, 'I need to be at home' and I felt guilty for not being able to be physically there with her," the former Fifth Harmony member said, before adding, "I remember being in the doctor's office with her after she had her surgery in October."

Normani's mom motivated her to continue doing what she needed to do for her career and that she would be okay.

"She's like, 'Baby, I'm gonna be fine. What I need you to do is focus. I need you to be Normani. I need you to be the best version of yourself,'" Normani remembered. "'I need you to continue to work hard. We gotta get this music out. We have the world to impact.' She was just like, 'I'm gonna be fine.' Anything that my mom says, to be completely honest, I believe."

"They've been the ultimate support system," she added about her parents. "Her strength throughout her experience has been the strength that I've needed honestly to even be able to allow this to even be a thought."

Back in October 2020, Normani revealed that her mother's breast cancer had returned 19 years after she first battled the illness.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me 🙏🏾 I did it once and I'll do it again! #CancerWho," Hamilton wrote alongside a photo of a rosary. "we got this mommy," Normani wrote, reposting the story.

Normani also called her mom "the strongest woman that I know" in her post's comments.

"My warrior," she added.

Normani has served as a global ambassador for the American Cancer Society for several years.

The "Motivation" singer previously opened up about her family struggling through her mother's diagnosis with breast cancer, which affects 1 in eight women in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.

"My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was around 5 years old, and it was the scariest point in all of our lives," Normani said in a joint 2018 Paper magazine interview with her mother.