Billboard Cover: When Fifth Harmony Become Four

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Barely a year after the Billboard cover feature in which Fifth Harmony broke down in tears over their brutal working conditions (for which we sought the salve of froyo), I reconvene with the girl group’s four remaining members to bake cookies and hash out the gory details behind their new better-than-ever status, which involves a lot of real talk about fixing their terrible contracts and moving forward in the wake of original member Camila Cabello’s exit. This is a special one not only because it’s our second cover together, but because I also profiled Cabello at the start of her solo career, plus wrote the mag’s first non-cover feature on 5H. So … they’re my beat now. Cameos from hitmakers Poo Bear and Dreamlab, fiery lawyer Dina LaPolt, Ginger Spice herself (hence the Spice Girls “2 Become 1” gag above), and, yes, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Fun fact: In addition to now finally owning the “Fifth Harmony” copyright (what this means is explained in the article), the ladies also own copyrights for Fourth Harmony and H4RMONY.

Billboard Cover: Camila Cabello Is Miss Movin’ On

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Really proud of how this came out. I met Camila Cabello about the time I started writing with Billboard, late 2014, and was immediately impressed (duh) by both her and her Fifth Harmony bandmates. Then last year I got to write the 5H Billboard cover, which found them on top of the world professionally, but in a heavy shared personal space with much of the enthusiasm and warmth I first saw in them clearly absent. Now, Camila has her spark back, even if her old friends want nothing to do with her, as she plunges headlong into a solo career that seems destined to take off. The supporting cast in this story includes Cabello’s mom Sinu, the ever-adorable Shawn Mendes, producers Pop Wansel and Frank Dukes and Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid. Also, this marks the debut of the magazine’s gorgeous new online features format. Erm, dive in!

Billboard Cover: Surviving Pop with Fifth Harmony

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In which I make Fifth Harmony cry, and try to patch it up with a trip to the froyo shop (spoiler: birthday cake flavor heals all wounds). I had the chance to interview these five for a smaller introductory Billboard piece just 14 months before (among my first for the mag), and now they (we!) are on the cover. RIYL an honest-to-god window into all the weird anguish that comes with being thrust into an ultimately impossible situation—which is to say, a girl group in 2016.