Cleveland-Born Singer Norelle Talks 2023 Super Bowl Performance

You may not even realize you’ve heard Norelle. But in her 35-year music career, she’s worked with some of the industry’s most recognizable voices, including John Legend, Nicki Minaj, Demi Lovato, J.Cole, Estelle and more as a back-up vocalist. Furthermore, the Cleveland native has made appearances on coveted stages like American Idol and the Billboard Awards, and her vocals featured on Grammy-winning albums from Anderson .Paak and Chance The Rapper.

In 2020, another huge opportunity knocked when Norelle took the stage during the Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside Shakira and Jennifer Lopez — one of three backup vocalists.

“I think for my first Super Bowl, I was just excited because I finally got a chance to be there,” Norelle said. “I think performing at the Super Bowl really has to be in the top five on every musician, artist or singer’s list. That is something that everyone just has a huge, strong desire to do. So, for me to get the first call, I was just excited for the experience. I finally get to check that off my bucket list.”

But scratching that performance off the list didn’t mean staying away forever. For the past two months, the singer has spent 50 to 80 hours a week preparing to support Rihanna during her 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on Sunday, Feb. 12.

Before that wild Sunday arrives, Norelle took a moment to discuss the upcoming performance, her career and what it means to be from Cleveland. 

Cleveland Magazine: How did you react when you found out you’d be performing at the Super Bowl?
Norelle: I was excited because it's this once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. So, for it to come back around again, it's kind of just like, how does that happen? And then I'm always, always, always excited to be back on stage with Rihanna — I started working with her originally in 2012. It was a combination of ‘Wow, good to do this again on one of music's largest stages,’ and then also with one of my favorite people and also favorite artists to work with. Our last show was November of 2016, so I haven't performed with her since then. I'm excited about that.

CM: What were some of the most interesting things about getting ready for and being at the Super Bowl last time?  N: I had never performed with Jennifer Lopez or Shakira before. I'm a fan of both of their music. J.Lo definitely was the soundtrack to my seventh-grade year.  I was so excited to be able to perform her music. And Shakira, these are artists that I grew up on, you know. So, to be able to perform with them on such a huge stage, that was really, really exciting. 

And being able to really listen to the details and the nuances of their music and to really learn their music. I don't know if people understand how intricate and detailed being a background vocalist is, but you just have to be super specific. You can't mess up the lyrics, you have to sound like the artists. It takes a really interesting skill to be able to shape your voice to sound like the artists.

We had to sing in Spanish; I don't speak Spanish. That was a challenge because I had to learn. That was the whole premise of that Super Bowl. It was in Miami, and had two of the largest Latina pop stars, so they had to implement the culture into the music. I was excited to be able to just show my versatility in something that I'm not necessarily well versed at but had an opportunity to perfect in that moment. So that was really fun to learn their music and to be engulfed in the culture for that Super Bowl. 

CM: How does it feel representing Cleveland on such major stages?
N: It feels amazing. I think that is really one of the most special moments of this whole thing. Although I don’t live in Cleveland anymore, I live in Los Angeles now, my family is still in Cleveland. I always come back home, so I'm still very connected to Cleveland. Knowing all the hours and the grind that I put in, starting there to get here, I'm always happy to represent Cleveland …. I hope to inspire people who are in Cleveland now, or any small town, wherever, who have dreams that kind of supersede their environment, to be hopeful and that it can actually happen, it's not completely out of reach. When I'm doing these things, I always love to be able to connect back to home and give whoever's interested an exclusive sneak peek into the process because it's like, ‘Yeah, I'm here,’ but I have not and won't ever forget home. Cleveland is always home. 

Growing up in Cleveland absolutely prepared me for these moments. I don't know how life would have turned out if I grew up in cities where certain things were more accessible to me. Cleveland definitely built in a certain grind and hustle that I don't know that I would have had if I was somewhere else. If I grew up in LA, it's like, ‘Oh, everything is here. I don't have to try as hard.’ But growing up in Cleveland, it definitely has this tone of being an underdog. And so, I gotta make it, I gotta make it, I gotta do it.

CM: What advice do you have for people with the desire to break into the music industry? 
N: Make connections. Like, really, your network is your net worth. And if I did not build and develop the relationships that I have now, I would not be afforded these opportunities, because it's somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody.

Adam Blackstone [Rihanna’s musical director], he's been so instrumental in my life and in my career. He literally has changed my life just by believing in me. And it's like, ‘I see your talent, you're excellent, you're great, I want to put you in these positions to win.’

So, you have to have the talent, of course. And I feel like if you have the talent and something that you love to do, naturally you're just going to do it. You're going to want to practice, you're going to want to do better. So, I feel like that's implied. But just getting out there and allowing people to see you do the things. I know social media is like the New Age resume, so I would say to utilize those platforms to really be seen and to be heard, whatever that is, they're very vital in this day and age. 

CM: What are you working on outside of Super Bowl prep? 
N:  I'm always working on my own music. I'm preparing to release new music, certainly after the Super Bowl performance. I just finished touring with Alicia Keys this past fall. And I think we have some spot date shows that are coming up very shortly after the Super Bowl. So there's a lot of things kind of happening back-to-back, which is really cool and fun and exciting. I feel like I'm not going to say things are back to normal, I don't feel like life will ever be back to normal, but this is the most familiar I'll say that things have felt in a while just in terms of the workload and, you know, outside being open and how frequently I’m touring, because we lost almost two years of touring. 

CM: And you said you're releasing new music, what can listeners expect?
N: I feel like I've grown so much as a woman, as a person, especially as a vocalist. So the music I'm creating right now is super personal to me, and I really want to showcase myself as a vocalist. I think that I'm not going to say artists that are out now are not vocalists, it's just very stylistic. And I just want to get back to the roots of singing. When people hear my music, I want them to be like, 'I can tell she grew up on Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.' I really want to sing heartfelt music that matters to me. It means a lot and it's very personal.