Five's a Crowd
Embarking on a music career is quite the undertaking. Especially at such young ages, some young new sensations seem to rise up in groups. For two well known bands groups of five seemed to be the lucky number (until five became a crowd). I am referring to of course One Direction and Fifth Harmony. Groups don’t stay together forever, but sometimes the group creates the perfect launching point for unstoppable solo careers. Both One Direction and Fifth Harmony are prime examples.
There is no doubt One Direction became the boy band sensation for young girls worldwide. Even after their hiatus and split beginning in December 2015 the One Direction fan base remained loyal (you can still hear the girls screaming for them if you listen hard enough) and kept showing up as each member embarked on a solo career.
Harry Styles recently sold out MSG in New York City. This March Harry came out as a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community with his unreleased live version of a new song Medicine which fans believe to hear Harry say “the boys and the girls are here, I mess around with them/him/a bit (lyrics still not confirmed), but at his shows Harry proudly waves pride flags. It is amazing that Harry can take his platform, from One Direction and his solo career, to bring awareness to a buzzing social topic in today’s current environment.
Niall Horan set off on his Flicker World Tour, which took him all the way to New Zealand and Australia with tourmate Maren Morris. According to Morris’ instagram their next stop is Chile. Niall’s big hit Slow Hands released at No. 1 on the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 charts. A personal favorite of mine was the acoustic collaboration between Niall and Maren for Seeing Blind, a sweet duet also performed on last year’s CMA Awards.
Zayn Malik broke out from One Direction with a chart topper, his first solo single Pillowtalk. The video for that had a more sexy vibe then what One Direction represented, it also featured his then girlfriend Gigi Hadid. Though the relationship didn’t succeed the success of his follow up single Let Me and the mysterious thriller video for the song, featuring another actress with striking resemblance to Gigi, continued. Both solo singles represent more mature subject matters that Zayn didn’t get to explore when he was one fifth of One Direction, but nonetheless were extremely popular on the charts.
Liam Payne has yet to have released a full length album, which he is closer and closer to releasing, but with his popular singles so far including Strip That Down, Get Low, and Familiar his first headlining show was just the other week. Chase Summer Soundtrack concert series featured Liam at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. Only one fifth of the One Direction phenomena, but popular enough to sell out on his first night. Liam was humbled by the loudness and energy of the crowd. He reiterated how surreal his fans support was despite not having a full length album. Despite that fact, Liam did not struggle delivering a fun full length set that kept everyone in the theatre on their feet. After opening up with his newer songs Bedroom Floor and Get Low Liam played tribute to his friends Zedd, Charlie Puth, and Pink with his covers of The Middle, Attention, and What About Us, respectively. Liam also gave Fifty Shades of Grey fans what they wanted, by performing his song For You that was on the newest Fifty Shades soundtrack with Rita Ora. Surprisingly a lot more Fifty Shades fans in the crowd then I would of guessed. However, the overwhelming majority was definitely the One Direction-ers, the fan base for life. Liam played tribute to his One Direction beginnings with Drag Me Down, History, and Little Things. Liam debuted a new song Tell Your Friends about letting people know about a new relationship. The new tune kept the crowd moving just as much as the well known singles and One Direction flashbacks. Liam closed the night with his infamous number Strip That Down. All the successes of the dismembered band mates just goes to show that individual stardom and self expression cannot be tamed or held back. Each one grew up and made their new mark on the music scene.
Zayn was the first to split from One Direction. Camila Cabello was the member to begin the departure from her group Fifth Harmony in December 2016. Camila followed suit one year after Zayn embarked on his own solo career. Unlike Liam who plays tribute to his past when Camila set out on her first headlining tour, Never Be The Same Tour, she made a point that the entire set will be her new stuff, there would be no odes to Fifth Harmony. This decision probably came after the shade thrown at Camila during Fifth Harmony’s 2017 VMA’s performance. When the four performed they had a silhouette representing Camila in the back, and proceeded to throw the fifth backwards off stage.
This article isn’t about the drama that can come from a band breaking up. On the contrary its intention is to highlight the individuality that can blossom when five driven artists are just too much for one group. Camila wanted to shine as an individual, she had a lot of her story to say, and didn’t feel like the Fifth Harmony platform was the place to do it. Same goes for Normani, once Camila left and the rest of the group ceased to make music together she featured on Khalid’s very popular hit Love Lies which was featured in the movie soundtrack Love, Simon.
It was nice to see the strain on the group seems to have faded. Fifth Harmony fans probably enjoyed seeing a picture of Normani and Camila at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards after Normani performed Love Lies with Khalid and Camila performed her newest single Sangria Wine with Pharrell Williams along with her first #1 Havana. Side note both performances were probably the best ones of the night!
When Camila reemerged solo she came out with a bang! Her debut album released at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart along with her first single Havana also coming in at No. 1. Her entire North American leg of her first NBTS Tour sold out day 1! Just the other day, June 26th Billboard announced that Camila was the first artist (female or male) to Top Pop & Adult Pop Songs with her first two debut singles, Havana and Never Be The Same. Camila is truly standing out on her own and each new accomplishment is quite the milestone!
I had the pleasure of catching the final night of the tour at a sold out show at Terminal 5 in New York City. Definitely the city to close a tour with. Of course she opened with Never Be The Same and closed with an amazing choreographed live performance of Havana. As a fan of the entire album Camila inside and out it was so exciting to hear tracks like Inside Out,
In the Dark, Real Friends, She Loves Control, All These Years,
and Consequences live. I will stop there before I just list the entire tracklist. She also included her Machine Gun Kelly collaboration Bad Things and her theatrical number Crown she released with Grey on the Bright movie soundtrack. Seems that both ex Fifth Harmony girls found their way onto the big screen through their solo music.
Two songs stood out the most on the emotion scale during Camila’s set: Scar Tissue and Something’s Gotta Give.
Scar Tissue is an unreleased song (hopefully to be released shortly after Sangria Wine or on the second album) that Camila added to the setlist with a beautiful introduction. The prelude to this song really exposes Camila on her journey thus far in the music industry. A beautiful song about getting hurt or broken, but being a better version of yourself after you heal Camila really hits home with her struggles of rising above a broken relationship (that relationship being with the five Fifth Harmony girls). She sings the chorus ‘all I’m left with is this scar tissue trying to restart that’s the hardest part scar tissue' and interjects with a moving song explanation. She says, “scar tissue is the skin that grows back after you been burned or hurt. It is your body’s way of healing. When I wrote this next part of the song I felt like i was healing.” She continued to encourage anybody else struggling to be patient, loving, and brave. To treat yourself like your own best friend because you healed is going to be better than the you unbroken. The crowd and Camila all together, almost in tears (at least I was) sang the next verse as loud as we could ‘ I’m going home where I’m trying’.
I thought Scar Tissue was going to be hard to recap, but it gets harder with Camila’s even more moving performance of Something’s Gotta Give. You always think you know what a song is about until an artist, a true artist, can present it in a whole different and profound light and brings many more deeper meanings to the surface.The last two lines in the chorus ‘Something’s gotta change, but I know that it won’t No reason to stay, is a good reason to go’ can refer to not getting out of a relationship you know is bad for you, just because it is comfortable and change is scary. Camila begins to explain that life is a continuous battle between choosing love or fear. “Love for yourself tells you to leave a situation that hurts you, and fear tells you to stay because it is comfortable. Love tells you to speak up for other people, and fear tells you it is more comfortable to stay silent.” The meaning of this song has changed for Camila over the last year, but the common thread is still and always will be choosing love over fear. Such a moving speech goes into an even more moving performance of Something’s Gotta Give with images of the Black Lives Matter movement, protests against the current administration’s treatment of DREAMERS, first responders at school shootings, and all the very current civil and human rights movements that have developed over the last year. The song already cut you deep, but the imagery along with the lyrics hit another level. The world needs love, because nothing will change by choosing fear and hate. So besides great music and a naturally born star performer when Camila left Fifth Harmony we also gained a very socially conscious young leader. One that can use her solo platform to reach so many different people across the world, and spread messages of hope and justice to those that need to hear it the most. Very similar to Harry from One Direction Camila is standing for social causes that mean the most to her.
Now Camila has an even bigger stage opening up for Taylor Swift on her stadium run Reputation Tour. I for one am so happy to see all these artists break out on their own. For one it just means more variety of music and more shows to go to! Secondly, it really allows each individual to bring to the forefront who they are on their own. Liam, Zayn, Harry, Niall, Camila, Normani, they each get to write and sing songs that mean the most to them or relate the closest to their lives and how they see the world. Deep down I feel each one values their launch from their respective group, you can’t regret your past you just have to embrace and grow from it. The expression three is a crowd has never been more true, especially when you have five creative blooming artists. From the words of wisdom of someone who embraced the solo life, as Camila would say, fear tells you to stay because it is comfortable. Familiarity and comfort are life’s biggest trap, don’t get stuck. Branch out and don’t be afraid to chase your individual aspirations because you never know what life it can lead, what issue it can help raise awareness to, or what music it can create.
