Fifth Harmony is back to “work.”
The pop girl group — composed of Ally Brooke Hernandez, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui, Camila Cabello and Dinah Jane — is fresh off promoting its stellar 2015 debut, Reflection, and the quintet already has its follow-up mapped out.
Titled 7/27 — the date the group was created during the second season of The X Factor in 2012 — the album arrives on May 20.
The new album shows the young women have matured as a group and are embracing their newfound pop stardom. The first single, Work From Home, is proof. Produced by Ammo (Beyonce, Britney Spears, Katy Perry), Work From Home picks up where the group’s breakout hit, Worth It, leaves off.
While headed to the airport, Hernandez (with the rest of the group chiming in from the background) talked about the single and the upcoming album.
What did you learn from the experience of recording the debut album that you then either wanted to do more or less of for the sophomore record?
Coming off Reflection, what we really wanted to do was be more vulnerable. On the last album, we had a lot of high-energy, empowering songs. But we wanted to hone in more on our emotions and talk about love and heartbreak and some of the experiences that we’ve been through.
We’re all really happy because we’ve been able to do that and be more open and honest. I’m excited because I feel like a lot of our fans, and the world, haven’t really been able to see that side of us, and I think it’s good to show. It’s good to unpeel layers of yourself, and we’re unpeeling layers of the group. We are growing and evolving. It’ll reflect in the music.
Wanting to peel back those layers, is that what led to the title? It feels introspective.
We came up with it because, of course, 7/27 is the day we were born, and it symbolises a lot for us. It’s us looking back on that day and looking at where we are right now.
It’s crazy; so much has happened for us personally and in our career, and Fifth Harmony has really evolved. We’re standing strong and showing the world that this is who we are. We don’t forget where we came from, but we’re also women, and this is a whole new era for us. Our lives changed in the moment on that date, and I think it’s really cool that we’re able to incorporate that into the title.
There’s usually added pressure on a sophomore record, but I can imagine it’s compounded by being in a group, and you guys have already been hit with so many rumours. Did you all feel any of that in the studio?
Of course there’s that pressure. But we also put pressure on ourselves to fight for what we believe in and to speak up for what we wanted to say.
We really wanted to make sure we were really proud of this album and we had as much input as we could, and that is what happened. We had a conversation with the label, we had a conversation with A&R (artists and repertoire), the songwriters and producers, and we told them, “This is who we are. This is what we want to talk about. And this is what we are going through, so let’s create the best album we can create for ourselves.”
What inspired the first single?
We were meeting with our A&R (Joey Arbagey), and he played us Work From Home. We were blown away when we heard it. We loved the beat. It captures you, and the melodies are sick. They are so simple, but less is more. The simplicity makes it stand out and makes a statement almost. We had to have it.
Ammo produced the first single, but who else did you work with on the album?
Oh, my gosh, we worked with the most incredible people. We worked with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, who are, of course, the best writers ever (both have contributed to past Fifth Harmony projects).
We worked with Max Martin’s team, MXM, who are the best in the business as well. We worked with Stargate, which was phenomenal, and Victoria Monet.
We have an incredible list of people that we collaborated with on this record, and that was insane. To be in their presence and to feel included in the work that they were doing and we were doing — for it to be a collaborative effort — was so amazing. We were working with these people who made some of our favourite songs. It was such an honour. It was a really special experience with this album, I will tell you that; it was so special.
If you had to describe the new album in five words?
Edgy, colourful, powerful, a party — that’s two words — and elevated.
