Normani has praised Ciara for being her role model when she was growing up.
Normani at the Lion King premiere in 2019
The 25-year-old singer appeared on the ‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ this week while Ciara was guest hosting and took the time to heap praise on the fellow music star for being an inspiration to her.
She said: “[You are] someone I’ve looked up to forever.
“I've always felt like representation was so key and being a little girl in my grandmother's living room learning the '1, 2 Step' and 'Goodies'. Literally, the earliest memories that I have, you were a part of that.
“You really helped shape the artist and the woman that I felt like I could be. You really opened my mind to those possibilities."
And Ciara was left “emotional” by the kind words, as she thanked Normani for the high praise.
She added: "Don't make me cry! That is so awesome. Thank you. That means a lot. Sorry guys, I got a little emotional."
Normani previously gushed over Ciara when she listed the ‘Level Up’ hitmaker alongside other childhood inspirations including Beyonce, Ashanti, and Janet Jackson.
The former Fifth Harmony star said: "They gave me the opportunity to be the black girl that I am today and the black artist and woman that I’ve evolved into.
"It's women like [those icons] and them giving me representation at an early age for me to be able to, when I was four or five years old, tell my mom and my dad, 'I wanna be like Janet. I wanna dance like Ciara. I wanna be like Beyonce.' What I’m seeing on the television is who I wanna be and it really opened my mind to the possibilities of who I've had the opportunity of becoming and for me that means absolutely everything."
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