The Problem with Pop Groups

On the 18th December 2016, Fifth Harmony announced that Camila Cabello was leaving the group.

Although many fans weren’t too surprised with the news, due to Camila already having two solo singles under her belt, one featuring Shawn Mendes back in 2015 and her most recent collaboration with Machine Gun Kelly. It was still a shock to many others, especially the way both parties handled the situation, from Fifth Harmony’s management posting a very short announcement on all four of the girls’ social medias, to Camila writing her own statement on how she thought the way 5H had dealt with the situation wasn’t in the best way.

But this all sounds so familiar and we’ve encountered many pop groups along the way that have broken up, because Pop Groups are always destined to fail no matter how much we may think they’ll stick together, there’s always someone in the group that wants to go solo.

Let’s not forget this happened in 2015 when Zayn suddenly decided to leave the beloved One Direction band behind him, to become a “normal 22 year old”. Although nothing normal has happened since his departure. But yet we’re still surprised when someone leaves the band. Although we also seem to forget that in a few years time, we’ll be granted with a documentary just like The Backstreet Boys’ or a one time performance just like *N’SYNC when Justin Timberlake won the Michael Jackson Vanguard Video Award back in 2013.

Which brings me to the most important question: Why do we keep allowing young people to go through this type of pressure and fame, knowing exactly the end result? it’s simple, we don't care enough or we simply forget that these people are just people. Why do we allow ourselves to watch solo artists on The XFactor get put in a group together, when we know that all they wanted was to perform solo. At no point has any group - not The Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, nor Take That - have ever come out and said how incredibly healthy and fun it is to be in such a popular group. Instead we hear about Zayn’s traumatic eating disorder and how he said it was the only thing he could control, because everyone else was telling him exactly what to do. Or how Camila at just age 15 got catapulted into stardom that she had no idea how to handle and just had to keep pushing through.

Of course groups are going to have disagreements, in most cases there’s 4-5 individuals, with different music tastes, fashion choices, looks etc. and then they get put together to look just like one another. We can only imagine how difficult it must be to be put in a group with strangers and then having to force certain calibers of friendships with one another. It must be quite daunting to start losing your individuality because you’re clumped together with 4 other individuals. So while Camila leaving 5H is the reflection of a breaking point, it’s also the next step on a Pop Groups trajectory.

But let’s not kid ourselves we know how this ends. Fifth Harmony have said they will continue as a four piece but we have to put things into perspective, this is just the beginning of an inevitable ending. 5H3 will be their last album, they’ll go on tour but once its over they’ll realise that it isn't the same without her and go on hiatus, just like One Direction did. All 5 of them will go on to create there own projects. The problem with Pop Groups, especially ones formed on talent shows like The XFactor compared to organically made band’s that come out of their parents garage’s.

Is that they become cogs in a multibillion-pound machine, where the groups are not allowed to have certain creative roles. These talent show groups get told what to do every second of their day and have a certain image to uphold. So how do we stop ourselves from allowing this from continuing? well for starters we allow the artist’s to grow as individuals and explore there own creativity without sparking an uprise. We allow them to go on breaks and have time to figure things out and we also have to remember that they are just as human as us. One thing that history has taught us when it comes to pop groups is that they always come back, even if it’s in 10 years time.