Following the departure of Camila Cabello, Fifth Harmony is back with their self-titled third album.
The 10-track project allows Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, and Normani Kordei to flex their power as a quartet. Gucci Mane, who appears on the first single “Down,” is the effort’s lone guest.
This marks an important moment for the girl group, who got their start on “The X Factor” back in 2012. “We’ve definitely reached a point where we’re so involved that we’re proud of what we’re doing and we’re really connected in a way that I don’t feel we have been before,” Lauren told “Zach Sang.” “This music, we’re much more connected to because we were able to be part of it. We wrote more than half the album. All of the songs that we didn’t particularly write ourselves, we curated, we chose for this project. We are so connected to everything that we’re doing.”
Kordei elaborated on the creative freedom during the same interview. “We got our power for the first time,” she said. “Being a manufactured girl group — that’s just the reality of it — I think that a lot of times, people just expect us to go through the motions and do what we’re told, as opposed to having ideas, and not being afraid to actually bring them to light.”
Up next, 5H is taking the stage at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, where they will “represent” for all girl groups. “There hasn’t been a girl group that’s performed at the VMAs in a long time,” said Dinah. “So we kind of have to show up and represent.”
Stream Fifth Harmony below.