Fifth Harmony is an American girl group formed on the second season of The X Factor. The group consists of members Ally Brooke Hernandez, Normani Hamilton, Dinah Jane Hansen, Camila Cabello, and Lauren Jauregui. They signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic Records, L.A. Reid's record label, after finishing in third place behind Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar on the show.

Career

2012: Formation and The X Factor

Fifth Harmony is composed of five singers who all successfully auditioned as soloists on The X Factor, but failed to progress individually to the Judges' Houses stage of the competition. They were later formed as a group at the end of bootcamp by Simon Cowell, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. At the judges' houses phase, the group performed "Impossible" by Shontelle and were selected to advance to the live shows. Originally, the group's name was "LYLAS" (acronym for Love You Like a Sister), but another group called "The Lylas" (consisting of four of Bruno Mars' sisters) claimed that the show stole their name. Therefore, LYLAS changed their name to 1432 (meaning I Love You Too), and this was announced on the first live show on October 31, during which 1432 performed "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". Simon Cowell and fellow judge L.A. Reid were critical of the new name, and Cowell suggested that the group be renamed again.

During the first live results show on November 1, 1432 performed "Skyscraper" in a sing-off with Sister C. Cowell decided to send them through to the Top 12 and announced that they would be renamed by the viewers, from suggestions submitted online. The name chosen by the public, Fifth Harmony, was announced on the second live show on November 7 (Movie Themes Week), when they performed "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri, from the movie The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, having reached the fifth place in that week's results. On the third live show on November 14 (Divas Week), they performed "Hero" by Mariah Carey, and reached sixth place in the week's results. On the fourth live show they sang "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders. During the week 4 results show, they placed 7th on the leaderboard. Just before the fifth live show, Hernandez's grandfather passed away. Due to this incident, the girls performed Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" in dedication to her grandfather. On the fifth result show they placed 4th on the leader board. During week six of the competition, Hernandez had to leave to attend her grandfather's funeral, resulting in her missing rehearsals that week. Fifth Harmony performed two songs: Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" and Demi Lovato's "Give Your Heart a Break". In week six's results, they placed in the bottom two and sang for survival against Diamond White, performing Mariah Carey's "Anytime You Need a Friend" and landing a spot in the Top 4.

In the semi-finals stage of the show, they performed Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen" as well as Shontelle's "Impossible" (for the second time during the competition). Their performance of Anything Could Happen was "a finals-caliber performance" according to L.A. Reid and described as "magic" by Britney Spears.Their performance of Impossible received mostly negative reviews from the judges because the group had previously performed the song at Simon Cowell's home (although not on The X Factor concert stage). Three members of the group (Camila, Lauren, and Ally) sang parts of the song in fluent Spanish. The following night's public vote results advanced Fifth Harmony to the final 3 along with Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar. On the Top 3 live show Fifth Harmony performed Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen" for the second time as their "Song of the Series" song. Their second song was a duet with The X Factor judge Demi Lovato singing "Give Your Heart a Break". Their final song of the night was "Let It Be" by The Beatles, billed as their "$5 million song". After the first round of the finals they did not receive enough votes from the public to advance to the Top 2, and they finished in 3rd place on December 20, 2012.

Performances on The X Factor

Fifth Harmony (formerly LYLAS and 1432) performed the following songs on The X Factor:
[show]Performances on The X Factor
2013–present: Better Together and covers

Approximately one month following the X Factor season 2 finale, on January 14, 2013, Fifth Harmony was voted the "Next Pop Superstar of 2013" by Popdust Magazine, beating out Little Mix, Austin Mahone, Union J and Timeflies. Three days later on January 17, the group signed to Epic Records and Syco Music and on February 16, they began working on their debut EP and album. The EP is executive produced by multi-platinum producer-songwriter Julian Bunetta (One Direction, Boyz II Men, Flo Rida, Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis). While in the studio the group also recorded and released via YouTube several notable cover songs including "Thinkin Bout You" by Frank Ocean, "American" by Lana Del Rey, "Lego House" by Ed Sheeran, "Stay" by Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko, "Red" by Taylor Swift, and "Honeymoon Avenue" by Ariana Grande. Three of these covers received public praise from the original artists, namely Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Mikky Ekko. Fifth Harmony was also featured on Boyce Avenue's 2013 EP "Cover Collaborations, Volume 2", singing covers of "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake and "When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars.

On September 9, 2013, the group announced the title of their debut EP: Better Together, scheduled to be released on October 22, 2013. The group will also release a version of the Better Together EP that features Spanish and acoustic versions of the songs on November 11, 2013. The lead single from Fifth Harmony's debut EP Better Together is Miss Movin' On. The single debuted at #85 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its first week of release, making Fifth Harmony the first X Factor USA alumnae to chart on the Hot 100.The group performed the single for the first time on television on July 18, 2013, on the Today Show in New York City. Within three days of the single's music video being uploaded on Fifth Harmony's official Vevo account, over one million views were amassed.

The promotional single "Me & My Girls" was released exclusively to Radio Disney on July 13, 2013. Fifth Harmony also performed the song on the Today Show on July 18, 2013.The video for "Me & My Girls" premiered on August 24 on the Disney Channel; and a different version of the video premiered on Fifth Harmony's YouTube Vevo account on August 25. On July 15, 2013, Radio Disney announced that Fifth Harmony would be the first artists featured on a reformatted version of The Next Big Thing, a program that chronicles an artist's journey from being discovered to becoming music's "next big thing"; with each segment appearing on the Disney Channel, Radio Disney, Disney.com, and on social media, as well as live Radio Disney events in local markets.

Throughout the months of July and August 2013, Fifth Harmony performed at shopping malls across the United States in a tour titled "Harmonize America" .On August 5, 2013 the girl group celebrated their one year anniversary by performing 5 shows in New York City. The pop-up concerts throughout the city included performances at the iHeartRadio Theater and Madison Square Park. The group was one of the opening acts for Cher Lloyd during her I Wish Tour which started on September 6, 2013. On September 11, 2013 the girl group revealed that they would be headlining their first concert hall tour "Fifth Harmony 2013", playing concert halls in Canada and the US. Their opening act is indie pop band AJR. Demi Lovato revealed on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on September 30, 2013 that Fifth Harmony is one of two opening acts on her upcoming Neon Lights Tour playing 27 arenas across North America.

Fifth Harmony appeared at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards alongside Demi Lovato to present the Acuvue Inspire Award to Nick Jonas.On October 10, 2013, it was announced that Fifth Harmony will be performing on the red carpet at the 2013 American Music Awards on November 24. They performed an acoustic version of the single "Better Together."

On November 4, 2013 the girl group premiered the album artwork for the Spanish version of "Better Together," titled Juntos. The acoustic Spanish version artwork was also revealed. Both EPs were released on November 11, 2013.ctively on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The English acoustic and remix EPs of "Better Together" were released on November 19 and November 25, 2013 respectively.

During an interview with MTV, the group confirmed that their full album will be out in 2014. Their Better Together EP debuted #6 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on iTunes album charts.

Artistry

Fifth Harmony cites Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Selena, Lana Del Rey, Demi Lovato, Leona Lewis, Destiny's Child and Spice Girls as musical influences.

Members

Ally Brooke Hernandez

Allyson Brooke Hernandez (born July 7, 1993) in San Antonio, Texas to parents Jerry and Patricia Hernandez. Her audition song was "On My Knees" by Jaci Velasquez, where she received positive feedback from the judges. Brooke sang "Somebody That I Used To Know" during the first round of bootcamp. During the third phase of bootcamp, she sang the song "Knockin on Heaven's Door" with Julia Bullock. Hernandez cites her biggest musical influence as Selena Quintanilla.

Normani Hamilton

Normani Kordei Hamilton (born May 31, 1996) to parents Derrick and Andrea Hamilton. Born in Atlanta, she spent her early years in New Orleans. Her family relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hamilton has been performing since she was three, and was an award-winning dancer and gymnast before recording her first single at age 13. She also had a small role on the HBO series Treme. Hamilton credits Beyoncé as her main musical and artistic influence.

Lauren Michelle Jauregui

Lauren Jauregui (born June 27, 1996) in Miami, Florida. Her favorite artists are Journey, Paramore, and The Script, as well as Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera. Her audition song was "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys.

Camila Cabello

Karla Camila Cabello (born March 3, 1997) in Cojimar, Cuba. By the time she was five years old, Cabello had lived in Havana and Mexico before permanently relocating to the U.S. with her parents, Alejandro and Sinuhe Cabello. Growing up she listened to such Latin artists such as Celia Cruz and Alejandro Fernandez. Her favorite musicians include Ed Sheeran and Demi Lovato.]

Dinah Jane Hansen

Dinah Jane Hansen (born June 22, 1997) in Santa Ana, California to parents Gordon and Malika Hansen. Dinah is of Tongan and Polynesian heritage.[61] She auditioned on The X Factor singing "If I Were A Boy" by Beyoncé, during which L.A. Reid stated that she "took the song to places that even Beyoncé didn't". She cites Beyoncé, Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey and Etta James as her musical influences.

Discography

Extended plays

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
NZ

Better Together

Released: October 22, 2013
Format: EP, digital download
Label: Epic, Syco

6 18

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
US
Pop
US
Heat.
NZ
UKR

"Miss Movin' On" 2013 76 27 4 27 8
Other charted songs
List of non-singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
Heat.

"Me & My Girls" 2013 17 Better Together
"—" denotes releases that didn't chart or weren't released in that territory


Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2013 Popdust Next Pop Superstar Group Won
Today's Greatest Girl Group Nominated
Teen Icon Awards Icon of Tomorrow Won
Iconic Band Won
Capricho Awards Revelação Internacional Nominated
YouTube Music Awards Response of the Year Nominated
TVZ News Awards Favourite group Pending
Tours

Headlining

2013: Harmonize America Mall Tour
2013: Fifth Harmony 2013 Tour

Opening act

2013: I Wish Tour (Cher Lloyd)
2014: Neon Lights Tour (Demi Lovato)