A Complete Recap Of Fifth Harmony And Camila Cabello’s Long And Rocky Feud
In her new book, Finding Your Harmony, Ally Brooke spilled a lot of tea on her career, her time in
Lillie Gissen
In her new book, Finding Your Harmony, Ally Brooke spilled a lot of tea on her career, her time in Fifth Harmony and her relationship with former 5H member Camila Cabello.
Yep, as fans know, the singer announced that she was leaving the band back in December 2016, and in the months leading up to and after the announcement, there was definitely a lot of drama between her and her old group mates — Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui. They shaded each other left and right on social media and said a lot of not-so-nice things about each other in interviews, and now, Brooke has finally opened up about what really went down between them. And it turns out, they almost considered adding a new member to replace the “Havana” songstress after they went their separate ways!
“There were several different options and routes we could’ve taken. There were a lot of different ideas floating around,” she wrote. “But the four of us decided, ‘Hey. We think it would be odd to all of a sudden bring someone.’ The four of us have a history, and we know what we went through together. We know our journey. We know each other. We felt like there was no question that we should continue on as we were.”
Wow, can you imagine how different the group would be if someone new had joined?! But wait, what exactly went down between Cabello and the other girls? Why did she leave the girl band? What led up to her departure? And where do they stand now? Not to worry, people, because we recapped their entire feud from start to finish for you, and boy, was it intense. Here’s what went down from start to finish…
They All Started Out As Best Friends
As fans know, Fifth Harmony was put together on The X Factor after they all auditioned as solo artists, and right away, the ladies instantly became the best of friends! Everything seemed to be picture perfect between them up until 2015, when Cabello announced that she was releasing a solo song with Shawn Mendes, called “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
And That’s When The Shade Started
Apparently, the other girls did not like the idea of Cabello making music without them, so they went ahead and did the same thing to her. Yep, in December 2015, the official Fifth Harmony Twitter account shared a picture of all the girls except Cabello together in the studio. And although she didn’t tag them or directly mention them by name, the brunette beauty seemed to respond to them by tweeting a few hours later, “I don’t like egos or drama. I do all things out of love. Love for music and love for what I believe in. And it’ll stay that way.”
That Wasn’t The Last Time Camila Cabello Was Left Out
In the months that followed, fans started to notice that the girls were hanging out a lot without Cabello. And in April 2016 when they all went to a Britney Spears concert and once again, the 23-year-old was no where to be seen, it caused a lot of stir online.
“Anyone can do whatever makes them happy during time off,” Cabello tweeted at the time, after a fan asked her about it.
When Camila Cabello Won A Few Solo Awards, It Made Things Even Worse
Things got worse at the at the iHeartRadio awards in 2016. Why? Well, besides winning two awards with Fifth Harmony, Cabello also won two awards on her own for her song with Mendes. And when the group’s manager, Roger Gold, congratulated her (and not the rest of the girls), it was not pretty.
“SO proud of @camilacabello97 who won four #MMVAs last night,” he wrote. Jauregui’s mom fired back, “Let’s get it right. Two were thanks to @FifthHarmony. Just keeping it real.” Yikes!
The Girls Did Not Hold Back After That
In August 2016 during an interview with Galore Magazine, Kordei low-key threw some more shade towards Cabello. She was asked to describe each of her group mates in one word, and she quickly said nice things about Brooke, Jauregui and Hansen. But then, when it was time to compliment Cabello, she couldn’t think of anything to say about her.
“She is… lemme see… she is… quirky,” she told them.
Camila Cabello Announced Her Departure In December 2016, And It Wasn’t Pretty
Taking to Twitter in December 2016, the girls announced that Cabello was leaving the group once and for all.
“After four and a half years together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well,” they wrote in a Twitter note.
Cabello published a message of her own, and she said that she was completely shocked by 5H’s announcement.
“I was shocked to read the statement that the Fifth Harmony account posted without my knowing. The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, much needed conversations about the future that we had during tour. Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was ‘leaving the group’ is simply not true,” she tweeted. “I did not intend to end things badly with Fifth Harmony this way. As sad as it is to see this chapter ending this way, I will continue to root them all on as individuals and as a group.”
Then, the ladies posted another lengthy note in response to Cabello’s claims.
“Over the past several months we have consistently made every effort to sit down and discuss the future of Fifth Harmony with Camila. We have spent the past year and a half (since her initial solo endeavor) trying to communicate to her and her team all the reasons why we felt Fifth Harmony deserved at least one more album of her time,” they explained. “We called for group meetings which she refused, we asked LA Reid and the label to step in and try to set meetings, which again, she refused. We even went as far as group counseling which she did not show up to. So no, after months of rejection from her and her team, these supposed lengthy conversations in fact never happened, although we pleaded. We have tried and exhausted efforts and hearts to keep this group alive as the five of us, and we want it to be very clear that unfortunately those efforts were not mutual.”
Camila Cabello Claimed She Had No Freedom In The Group
A few months later, when asked why she left the group, Cabello told Seventeen Magazine, “Fifth Harmony wasn’t the maximum expression of me individually. My goal is to be brave and open up my soul.”
“We didn’t write our records. We were interpreting somebody else’s story,” she also told Billboard. “Fifth Harmony is an entity or identity outside all of us, and I don’t think anybody felt individually represented by the sound — we didn’t make it.”
The ladies also spoke out about the situation in an interview of their own.
“Let’s just say we’re in a better place now — there are no secrets in this circle,” Hansen told Billboard Magazine, with Brooke adding, “You can’t change people.” Kordei also chimed in, “I get to sleep at night knowing we did everything in our power as friends, bandmates and human beings.”
And get this — Cabello unfollowed them all on social media after the magazine hit stands.
The Girls Sent Camila Cabello A Strong Message During Their 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Performance
While performing at the 2017 MTV VMAs, fans quickly noticed that on the screen, what appeared to be the shadow of a fifth girl stood next to them. But suddenly, it fell backwards and flew off the stage. Wow, talk about no chill.
When asked what she thought about the performance a few months later, Cabello told The New York Times, “It definitely hurt my feelings. I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t prepared for it — especially because at that point I’d moved on from it. I was just like, ‘What? Why?’”
After A Long And Rocky Road, Things Are Finally All Good Between Them
In August 2018, it seemed like the ladies had finally put the drama behind them once and for all.
“I don’t like any beefs. I feel like we’re in a really good place now, me and the girls. I saw Normani recently at the Billboard Awards and we caught up and I told her I’m super excited for her,” Camila explained to Access Online. “I don’t remember the last time I saw the other girls, but I told her to say the same thing to them. I feel like there’s just been enough time and distance away from the situation that we’re all genuinely in a good place right now. And honestly, there’s just no time in life for that stuff. Like, what’s the point?”
“Just the courses of our lives have drifted,” she also told Variety in August 2019. “But if I saw any of them at an awards show, I would say, ‘Hi,’ and it would be totally cool. It feels like there’s been a reset just because of the amount of time that’s passed.”
Plus, they have even publicly supported each other’s solo work! Cabello gushed over Kordei’s performance at the the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, so it looks like things are finally all good between them.