Fifth Harmony Is Taking A Break
Variety.com: Fifth Harmony announced Monday morning that they will be taking a hiatus to pursue solo activities.
“Reflecting on the past six years since we started on X-Factor, we’ve realized just how far we’ve come and we appreciate everything so much, more now than ever,” Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui wrote in a post on their socials. “We’ve really had one hell of a memorable journey together and can’t begin to express our gratitude to y’all for coming along with us on this wild ride!”
A source close to the situation emphasized to Variety that there was “no disharmony” in the move, that the four are all still the best of friends, but wanted to be able to embrace the multitude of solo opportunities they have been offered.
The move does not come as a complete surprise given the members’ recent spate of solo activity — which they’ve done throughout the group’s career, but particularly in recent weeks. Kordei dropped a single with Khalid called “Love Lies” last month; late in January Brooke joined Topic for the song “Perfect” and last week Variety broke the news that she signed as a solo artist with Larry Rudolph, who also manages Fifth Harmony and Britney Spears; Jauregui signed a solo deal with Columbia in January and guested on songs with Halsey and Steve Aoki last year; Jane appeared with Daddy Yankee, French Montana and RedOne on “Boom Boom” in October. Of the four, only Kordei, who is managed by Brandon Silverstein, is not managed by Rudolph; Silverstein’s company, S10, announced a partnership with Roc Nation last week.
The group formed during the second season of “The X Factor” in 2012; the cracks began to appear when fifth member Camila Cabello left the group in December 2016. The group threw shade at Cabello at the beginning of their performance on the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards: When the foursome took the stage, a fifth female could be seen standing between Kordei and Jauregui — and was then thrown backwards from the stage. Cabello and the four both performed at the Latin American Music Awards last fall, although they did not publicly cross paths.
However, the group’s self-titled album, released in August, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and failed to spawn a major hit single, while Cabello’s solo album debuted at No. 1 and spawned a No. 1 hit with “Havana,” which topped the Hot 100 in January.
“After six years going hard, non stop, we also realized that in order to stay authentic to ourselves and to you, we do need to take some time for now to go on hiatus from Fifth Harmony in order to pursue solo endeavors,” they wrote.
“We are all very excited and grateful to be able to take this time to learn and grow creatively and really find out footing as individuals,” the post continues. “In doing this we are allowing ourselves to gain new experiences, strengths and perspectives that we can bring back to our Fifth Harmony family.”
The length of the hiatus is not specified, but the group says “we do have some upcoming shows through the end of the year which will still happen as planned”. Just three dates are listed on their website — in Florida, Puerto Rico and Iceland, all in May — but presumably more will be announced.