"Miss Movin' On," indeed!
After Camila Cabello quit Fifth Harmony in 2016, the remaining four members—Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui and Normani—soldiered on and released a self-titled album. But, on March 19, they surprised fans by revealing they'll be taking an indefinite hiatus.
Normani, who recently teamed up with Khalid for the single "Love Lies," had already been gearing up to go solo. "Honestly, I feel like I've experienced a lot in the last six years, so I feel like just getting all of that out," the 21-year-old singer told Beats 1 on Apple Music Monday. "Whatever comes to mind, whatever I'm going through at the moment, I just want this to be an album that completely represents who Normani is—and for some people, it may be the first time." She is in the "beginning stages" of recording her "first full-length album," and so far, she's worked with Sarah Aarons, Sailor Heart, Victoria Monét, The Monsters, The Stereotypes and The Strangerz. She'll be getting into the studio with Ester Dean very soon, she added. "I'm excited!"
Fifth Harmony was manufactured on The X Factor in 2012, and before the girls entered the competition series, none of its members knew each other. "We tried our best to be ourselves, [but] we were also adolescents," Jauregui, 21, told Playboy in an interview published Monday. "So, you have to think about who you were at that age and being thrown in front of cameras."
In various ways, each member of Fifth Harmony had to to compromise her artistic integrity for the sake of the group, according to Jauregui. "When you're really disconnected from who you are and you're ashamed of it, you can write and tell a story, but you can never really tell your story," Jauregui explained. "That's what separates a lot of artists from others—the connection."
Like Normani, Jauregui set herself up for solo success before Fifth Harmony disbanded; while still a member of the band, she collaborated with Steve Aoki, Halsey, Marian Hill and Ty Dolla $ign. "Right now, I'm just exploring myself and getting in touch with myself creatively," Jauregui told Playboy, adding that she doesn't want to put "boundaries" around what she can do on her own.
"It's definitely different than my work with Fifth Harmony," Jauregui teased. "It's me."