December 19, 2016. Remember that day? Well it was the day Fifth Harmony’s band account posted a statement where the public was notified of Camila Cabello’s departure from Fifth Harmony. There were many people who were blindsided, but then there were others who were probably shocked but also saw it coming (like me).
It was not shocking, like when Zayn left One Direction, but it was a upsetting that the band as we knew it since late 2012 was no more. It can be scary for fans, more so for musicians, when their favorite band suffers a blow like this. A member leaves and everyone watches what comes next, will the solo star catapult to success in a way the band never will? Will the band choose to disband because they can’t seem to figure out the new dynamic?
But it seems like Fifth Harmony has found its groove, and they are thriving! Their first song since Cabello’s departure, “Down” was fairly similar to what we’d heard on 7/27, but boy did they fool us. Their second release was “Angel” a song so different from anything Fifth Harmony had ever done I had to recheck and make sure that was them (even though, hello, that was their voices). The release of their album, “Fifth Harmony” gave us a 5H we had not yet known. It is evident that Lauren, Ally, Normani, and Dinah have become more involved in the creative processes of Fifth Harmony.
Cabello has also been thriving. She clearly wants her music to be, quite literally, a piece of her with her sound taking inspiration from the music she grew up listening to in her Cuban-Mexican household. Her newly turned single song “Havana” is gaining a reputation all on its own.
It is fair to say that all five girls are feeling a certain level of liberty, they are doing what they do best and moving forward with their lives, so why aren’t we?
I’ve been long over Cabello’s exit, but it seems like media sites and some fans cannot let go. With articles and titles that continue to mention the exit, who was in the wrong and why either side is a victim of the other’s malice. Why do so many people continue to feed into the nonexistent drama? One possible reason is the fact that they are females, and the split was fairly messy. We don’t know much about what happened behind the scenes, it really is a game of she said, they said but can we really argue on the fact that this decision might have been the best for everyone involved?
With Ally, Normani, Dinah, Lauren, and Camila living happily, and singing what they love can we not move past the departure that happened nearly a year ago?