Four years ago, on July 27th of 2012, five girls were given a chance to fulfill their destiny of pop stardom. With that came a carried responsibility of inspiring young girls and boys of all ages.
During the X-Factor, the girl group were known as LYLAS, then 1432, followed by the final and current name: Fifth Harmony. While they were seen as an easy vote off by some, they conquered to win over the nation and came in 3rd place.
Influenced by the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, the Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, etc, these young ladies had a mission – to burst out onto the pop scene with ultimate girl power. Releasing their first EP as a base to test the mainstream waters, they released the pop anthem ‘Miss Movin’ On’ which proved moderately success in the U.S. going Gold and peaking at #76.
A year later, the girls decided to up the mature flow and went for an R&B and Hip-Hop influenced sound with debut studio album Reflection. Off the album came three successful singles with ‘Worth It’ being the icy top of the cake. It holds the record for being the best selling girl group single in Billboard Hot 100 history beating the likes of the Spice Girls and the Pussycat Dolls.
With their fast and growing image, many critics named them a mere replacement group and/or sound. Some even declared their finishing touches as a group once the Reflection era came to a close. The media picked out the flaws and attempted to pity the groups’ individual projects.
But, little did the media know that their attempt to break a group of five strong women proved futile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPs03ZyY5aA
Rolling with the punches, the girls moved on to album number two, known as the positive reviewed 7/27. Carrying on the urban influenced sound mixed with bits of electropop, Fifth Harmony release ‘Work From Home’, their second international hit that has so far extended their name to more worldwide charts.
‘Work From Home’ is one of the best selling girl group singles in the U.K. but also the United States. It’s still steady over international charts and with second single ‘All In My Head (Flex)’ shooting out with similar success, it’s safe to say these girls aren’t going anywhere.
Selling well over 10 million records is an achievement for any pop artist. So people can say what they want about this all star female group.
With their friendly counterparts Little Mix, these two girl groups have proved time and time again that a VMA or MTV award win proves nothing. Sure it highlights a groups’ efforts and gives them recognition, but at the end of the day what matters is breaking that glass ceiling that the music industry has put forth on women since day one.
That alone proves and shows that girl groups are not to be messed with. The media can rally and mix up things in a negative light but watch out. Sooner or later, all that unnecessary energy will come back to forcefully bite you!
All in all, thanks Fifth Harmony for a super journey so far and we expect more great things to come for you ladies. Continue to inspire, continue to work hard, and of course, continue to show the world that it doesn’t matter what your skin color is, what your gender is, what your sexuality is – anything can be accomplished. You just have to be a boss and tell yourself every day that you are indeed worth it.
Anything could happen.