Fifth Harmony has been on the rise ever since they were manufactured by Simon Cowell during the second season of FOX’s ill-fated American version of X Factor. The show failed to catch on after 3 seasons, but Simon can at least brag that the competition reality show created bonafide stars out of the five female singers–Dinah Jane Hansen, Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui and Ally Brooke Hernandez–who initially auditioned as solos.
The group’s sophomore album, 7/27, out on May 27 has already produced Fifth Harmony’s first Top 10 hit in “Work from Home.” It’s the first girl group song to break into the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 in eight years.
It’s those accomplishments and more that lands the quintet a coveted cover story for Billboard magazine. Click to read the full story with photos. Click for more photos. Here’s an excerpt:
Dinah Jane Hansen, who is 18 and wears a baseball cap that reads “HOT SAUCE” and a crewneck sporting 2Pac’s face, sums up the group’s current mood by quoting her hero, UFC champ Ronda Rousey: “I’m not a do-nothing bitch!” It’s a message the others are eager to get behind as they enter what may prove to be the most hard-fought phase of their collective career. “We finally have a damn voice,” says Hansen. “We feel like actual artists. We were little babies in the beginning. Now we’re becoming big girls.”
That’s a handy narrative as Fifth Harmony prepares to release its second album, 7/27, on May 27 through Epic and Syco. But it happens to be true. The lead single, “Work From Home,” is the first girl group song to break into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in eight years. (The last one: “When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls, which hit No. 9 in July 2008.) It’s a pop-R&B confection that siphons off the same tropically tinted EDM pool that made Justin Bieber a grown-person concern, and it’s the group’s steamiest song too, with MC Ty Dolla Sign promising to “put in overtime on your body.” The album’s other guests include Missy Elliott — on would-be “Uptown Funk!” sequel “Not That Kinda Girl” — and rap crooner Fetty Wap, over the bubbly reggae-trap of “All in My Head.”
In case you didn’t know: The album title is a nod to the fateful day in 2012 when the five strangers were put together as a group by Simon Cowell during the Bootcamp round of X Factor. Remember when the group was originally known as the LYLAS? That was until Bruno Mars’ sisters complained they already copped the moniker for their own girl group. Then, the quintet was called 1432 for a hot minute, but Simon hated it, so he handed the decision to come up with a better name to fans…
Pre-order 7/27 at iTunes and Amazon. Along with “Work from Home” you can also download “The Life” and “Write on Me.”
