Ally Brooke Gets Real About Fifth Harmony, Almost Quitting ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and More in Memoir

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Ally Brooke Gets Real About Fifth Harmony, Almost Quitting ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and More in Memoir

In the eight years since she competed on The X Factor, Ally Brooke has done just about everything: toured the world with the multiplatinum girl group Fifth Harmony, launched a solo career and made it to the finale of Dancing With the Stars. And now, she has added “author” to her résumé. In her memoir, Finding Your Harmony: Dream Big, Have Faith and Achieve More Than You Can Imagine (out Tuesday, October 13), the singer, 27, takes readers through her humble beginnings in a Mexican American family in San Antonio, Texas, to the moment her life changed forever when she auditioned for The X Factor in 2012 and was grouped with Camila Cabello, Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane. “I’d always performed on my own, but suddenly I was in a group with a bunch of strangers. This was a lot to take in,” she writes in the book. “In one day, my plans had changed drastically. I had spent a decade already, since I was 9 years old, working my butt off to become a solo artist. It was what I’d wanted, the goal I’d pursued so passionately, the thing my parents had sacrificed so much of their lives for. Yet at the same time, I was grateful.” Although Fifth Harmony did not win the Fox competition, they went on to have massive success in the music industry. In 2015, they released their debut album, Reflection, which included the hits “Boss” and “Worth It.” Their sophomore effort, 7/27, came the following year and spawned the biggest song of their career, “Work From Home.” But in December 2016, Cabello abruptly left the group on bad terms (something Brooke goes into little detail about in her memoir). Fifth Harmony forged on, releasing their self-titled third album in 2017, but Brooke, Normani, Jauregui and Jane announced an indefinite hiatus in March 2018 to pursue solo projects. Soon after, Brooke began working on an album of her own, which is expected to be released in 2021, and competed on DWTS season 28 in 2019. She and her pro partner, Sasha Farber, finished in third place. “My time on the show was so special,” she writes of the ABC series. “It moved me, it changed me in so many ways and it gave me memories I’ll cherish forever.” Scroll down to read 10 revelations from Finding Your Harmony!

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Ally Brooke Gets Real About Fifth Harmony, Almost Quitting ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and More in Memoir

In the eight years since she competed on The X Factor, Ally Brooke has done just about everything: toured the world with the multiplatinum girl group Fifth Harmony, launched a solo career and made it to the finale of Dancing With the Stars. And now, she has added “author” to her résumé. In her memoir, Finding Your Harmony: Dream Big, Have Faith and Achieve More Than You Can Imagine (out Tuesday, October 13), the singer, 27, takes readers through her humble beginnings in a Mexican American family in San Antonio, Texas, to the moment her life changed forever when she auditioned for The X Factor in 2012 and was grouped with Camila Cabello, Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane. “I’d always performed on my own, but suddenly I was in a group with a bunch of strangers. This was a lot to take in,” she writes in the book. “In one day, my plans had changed drastically. I had spent a decade already, since I was 9 years old, working my butt off to become a solo artist. It was what I’d wanted, the goal I’d pursued so passionately, the thing my parents had sacrificed so much of their lives for. Yet at the same time, I was grateful.” Although Fifth Harmony did not win the Fox competition, they went on to have massive success in the music industry. In 2015, they released their debut album, Reflection, which included the hits “Boss” and “Worth It.” Their sophomore effort, 7/27, came the following year and spawned the biggest song of their career, “Work From Home.” But in December 2016, Cabello abruptly left the group on bad terms (something Brooke goes into little detail about in her memoir). Fifth Harmony forged on, releasing their self-titled third album in 2017, but Brooke, Normani, Jauregui and Jane announced an indefinite hiatus in March 2018 to pursue solo projects. Soon after, Brooke began working on an album of her own, which is expected to be released in 2021, and competed on DWTS season 28 in 2019. She and her pro partner, Sasha Farber, finished in third place. “My time on the show was so special,” she writes of the ABC series. “It moved me, it changed me in so many ways and it gave me memories I’ll cherish forever.” Scroll down to read 10 revelations from Finding Your Harmony!

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She’s Saving Herself for Marriage

For her 18th birthday, Brooke asked her parents for a purity ring with “True Love Waits” inscribed on it. “It symbolizes the choice I’ve made to save myself for marriage, a commitment I have maintained to this day, even in an industry where such values are not generally celebrated, and I’ve sometimes been judged and made fun of,” she writes. “But I’ve just held my head high and remained true to who I am and what I believe in.” 

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Her ‘X Factor’ Audition Was Heavily Edited

Brooke will never forget watching her first TV appearance — for all the wrong reasons. “After the music stopped, the camera cut to the judges, and Simon [Cowell] looked annoyed. Other judges made cringing faces at me. The producers cut to people in the audience laughing,” she recalls. “The camera cut back to me as I sang, but the magic was shattered. Simon appeared even more irritated. This version of events was nothing, and I mean nothing, like what I’d experienced in real life.”

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Khloé Kardashian Comforted Her After Grandpa’s Death

The cast and crew of The X Factor rallied around Brooke after her grandfather Paul died in the middle of season 2. “One of the hosts that season was Khloé Kardashian. Radiating warmth, she pulled me aside, giving me a big hug, and I cried in her arms,” she writes. “‘I am so sorry for your loss,’ she said. ‘I lost my dad [Robert Kardashian] when I was very young. Even to this day, it’s still hard. But I’m here for you, and I’m praying for you and your family. One thing that I’ll tell you is don’t let anybody tell you how to grieve. If you want to cry, cry. If you want to try to be happy, be happy. But you grieve in the way that you grieve.’”

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She Fought for More Lines in Fifth Harmony Songs

After the girl group recorded their debut single, “Miss Movin’ On,” in 2013, Brooke was heartbroken to learn that only one of her lines made the final edit. “This was our first single — our first chance to show the world we were more than just a reality TV group — and I’d only been given one line on the bridge, and one ad lib,” she writes, noting that she eventually mustered up the courage to complain to their manager. The track ended up being a hit regardless, and Fifth Harmony won their first VMA for the music video.

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She Once Gained 20 Pounds by Emotionally Eating

In the midst of Fifth Harmony’s 7/27 tour in 2016, Brooke struggled with her confidence, in part due to her unflattering wardrobe and negative comments from social media trolls. She writes that she turned to food as a “temporary escape,” but overeating caused her to gain 20 pounds. “I’m only five feet tall, so on my small frame, it was noticeable,” she remembers.

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Fifth Harmony Were ‘Nervous’ to Perform After Cabello’s Exit

Brooke breezes past Cabello’s departure from Fifth Harmony, merely writing that the group “underwent a change” and “became a foursome” at the end of 2016. She does, however, admit that “there was some uncertainty about what we should do,” particularly for their first performance as a quartet at the 2017 People’s Choice Awards. “We were so nervous that we were jumping up and down, trying to get out the jitters,” she recalls.

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She ‘Seldom’ Sees Her Former Groupmates

Brooke admits that keeping in touch with Normani, Jauregui and Jane is “hard” now that they each have solo careers. “We message one another or comment on one another’s social media, but we seldom have time to get together,” she writes. “But one thing is true: I will always have love for them. And who knows, maybe one day, we will be at a major worldwide event together as a group again.”

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Record Labels Weren’t Eager to Sign Her as a Solo Artist

Brooke had meetings with several fruitless — and uncomfortable — meetings with record labels in 2018 as she tried to score a solo deal, which Cabello, Normani, Jauregui and Jane had already done. “Of course I was happy for them, but it also upped my anxiety, reminding me how far behind I was, and that there was not an infinite number of labels to choose from.” Eventually, Atlantic Records signed her, and her debut single, “Low Key” featuring Tyga, came out in 2019.

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She Was Reluctant to Do ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Just a few months after signing with Atlantic, Brooke got an offer to compete on DWTS season 27. Although she was a “huge fan” of the show, she writes that she felt “the timing wasn’t right” since her “solo music career was still in its infancy” and she wanted to keep her schedule open for promotional appearances. Months later, producers approached her again for season 28 — and she agreed after weeks of weighing her options and praying on it. “It was hard to believe that I was really going to be a contestant on a show that I had watched and loved for years,” she writes.

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She Almost Quit ‘DWTS’ in Support of James Van Der Beek

During her time on the dance competition, Brooke developed a close bond with James Van Der Beek. “He became like a mentor to me. He is such an amazing soul,” she writes. During the semifinals, the Dawson’s Creek alum’s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, suffered a miscarriage while pregnant with their sixth child. That same week, he ended up in the bottom two against Brooke, who offered but failed to go home in his place. “The judges had chosen [to save] me over James, after what he’d gone through,” she recounts. “And now I feared that I’d be known as the girl who’d taken James Van Der Beek’s spot, right after he’d lost his child.” Later that night, an emotional Brooke went to the actor’s trailer to talk to him, and he encouraged her to stay in the competition, which she did.