Fifth Harmony and Camila Cabello’s Drama Through the Years

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Fifth Harmony and Camila Cabello’s Drama Through the Years

Miss movin’ on, indeed. Camila Cabello’s drama with her former girl group, Fifth Harmony, started long before she quit in December 2016 to become a solo artist. Camila, Normani, Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke and Dinah Jane met in 2012 on season 2 of the U.S. edition of The X Factor. They auditioned as soloists, but judges Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato decided to group them together. Their harmonies (no pun intended) were top-notch, but they struggled to find their identity from the beginning, going through multiple name changes before ultimately settling on Fifth Harmony, which viewers at home suggested. The girls finished in third place on the Fox competition in December 2012 and signed a deal with Cowell and Reid’s labels, Syco Music and Epic Records, respectively. They released their debut EP, Better Together, in October 2013, followed by two albums, 2015’s Reflection and 2016’s 7/27. But by the end of 2016, cracks in the group started to show. Normani, Lauren, Ally and Dinah were spotted hanging out together on numerous occasions with Camila nowhere in sight. Then, that December, Fifth Harmony released a statement claiming they were “informed via [Camila’s] representatives” that she had quit, which she later said was “simply not true.” A much-publicized back-and-forth ensued, indicating that the girls had been on rocky waters for some time. Fifth Harmony went on to release one more album, 2017’s self-titled, before announcing in March 2018 that they were going on an indefinite hiatus to pursue solo projects. To date, Camila has released two solo albums, while Normani, Lauren, Ally and Dinah’s debuts are still in the works. Scroll down to see a timeline of the girl group’s drama through the years.

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August 2012

Lovato all but predicted Camila’s departure during a live episode of The X Factor in August 2012, telling the group, “I feel like tonight there was only one person that shined” and pointing to the “Havana” singer.

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November 2015

Camila sparked rumors that she was going solo in November 2015 when she became the first to release a song without the group: “I Know What You Did Last Summer” featuring her now-boyfriend, Shawn Mendes. In response to fan speculation, she tweeted at the time, “There is not enough time in the world to explain yourself to people that already think they know ur intentions... so let it go.”

Credit: Courtesy Fifth Harmony/Twitter

December 2015

Fifth Harmony tweeted a photo in December 2015 of Lauren, Ally, Normani and Dinah in a recording studio without Camila, fueling rumors that the Cuba native was leaving the group.

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September 2016

Camila left a Fifth Harmony concert early in September 2016. She later tweeted that she “was having too much anxiety and couldn’t finish” the St. Louis show.

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December 2016

For their final performance as a fivesome, Normani, Lauren, Ally and Dinah wore matching red Florida Panthers jerseys without pants at Y100’s Jingle Ball in December 2016. Camila, meanwhile, stood out from the group in a crop top and white pants.

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December 2016

Fifth Harmony announced Camila’s exit via Twitter in December 2016, writing, “After 4 and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well. … That being said, we are excited to announce that we will be moving forward with the four of us - Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane and Lauren Jauregui for our fans. We are four strong, committed women who will continue with Fifth Harmony as well as our solo endeavors.”

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December 2016

Hours later, Camila released a lengthy statement of her own via Twitter, writing in part, “I was shocked to read the statement 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. just like the other girls said in their statement about their plans, i had also planned to continue with my own solo endeavors in the new year but i did not intend to end things 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.”

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December 2016

Fifth Harmony got in the final word later that day, tweeting yet another statement addressing their fans. “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 of the reasons why we felt Fifth Harmony deserved at least one more album of her time, given the success of this past year that we’d all worked so hard for,” they wrote, claiming that Camila repeatedly “refused” to discuss their future despite multiple “exhausted efforts.”

The group further alleged, “In mid November we were informed via her manager that Camila was leaving the group. At that time we were informed that December 18th would be her final performance with Fifth Harmony. We were truly hurt. … To watch Camila walk away from this special world we’ve built with you is tough but we will move forward together.”

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August 2017

Normani, Lauren, Ally and Dinah shut down questions about their former bandmate in August 2017 while promoting their first album as a foursome on journalist Dan Wootton’s “Bizarre Life” podcast. “We want to talk about our new music. We don’t want to be shady, man. We just have better things to talk about,” Lauren said.

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August 2017

A shadowed figure meant to represent Camila was thrown off the stage at the beginning of Fifth Harmony’s performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2017. The “Señorita” singer later admitted to The New York Times that the move “definitely hurt my feelings,” calling it “petty.”

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August 2018

Camila told Access Hollywood in August 2018 that she was finally “in a good place” with the girls again.

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February 2020

Two months after Camila apologized for her past racist tweets and Tumblr posts that resurfaced, Normani broke her silence in a lengthy statement to Rolling Stone in February 2020. The “Motivation” singer called the matter “uncomfortable,” explaining, “It would be dishonest if I said that this particular scenario didn’t hurt me. … It took days for her to acknowledge [the bullying] I was dealing with online and then years for her to take responsibility for the offensive tweets that recently resurfaced. Whether or not it was her intention, this made me feel like I was second to the relationship that she had with her fans.”

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April 2022

Camila addressed her departure from the group in the song "Psychofreak" from her third album Familia. While opening up about her anxiety and mental health struggles over the course of her life and career, she sings, "I don’t blame the girls for how it went down." In an interview with Reuters ahead of the album's release, Camila revealed that while she still isn't close with her former bandmates, they're all supportive of one another. “We have been like supportive of each other through like DMs and stuff,” she said, “I’m like in a in a really good place with them.”