Fifth Harmony's '7/27': The 6 essential songs
With Hillary Clinton fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination and Beyonce ruling pop music’s narrative this spring, 2016 is shaping up to be the year where powerful women’s stories are heard louder than ever. Enter Fifth Harmony, a group whose success reads like a movie script.
The first girl group to crack the Top 10 in a decade with their single Work From Home, the quintet’s new album 7/27 (** and a half out of ****) is out Friday, named after the date Fifth Harmony formed on the Fox reality competition, The X Factor.
Work From Home, much like the group’s breakthrough 2015 single Worth It, is swaggering and sexually forward, daring critics to question their authority. But just as Beyonce examined the cracks in her seemingly-flawless exterior on Lemonade, 7/27 examines the challenges that accompany being a women in charge, as Fifth Harmony invites listeners behind the curtain to show that, yes, they're only human.
Lemonade spoke to listeners of all ages, but while Beyonce teased her marital woes on her new album, Fifth Harmony’s five members — Ally, Normani, Dinah, Camila and Lauren — speak directly to their Harmonizers, their younger female fans who may be navigating the same issues they are.
And while there's plenty of girl-power posturing on 7/27, Fifth Harmony tempers the sexual assertiveness of Work From Home with songs about bad guys and not-quite-relationships. “I told you that I wasn’t perfect, no way,” they sing on 7/27's last line, reassuring listeners that imperfection is beautiful, too.
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Ready to listen? Here are the six 7/27 tracks you need to hear first.
Not That Kinda Girl : The oldest member of 5H is 22 years old, so Prince's '80s heyday was before their time. But the group proves they're dedicated students of pop music history with this song , which has punchy vocals shaking off a guy and a slinky synth melody that’s a dead ringer for 1999. It's already the best song on the album by the time Missy Elliott shows up to shut it all down.
Work From Home : From winking at dancehall to roping in Fetty Wap, 7/27 often feels like a survey of every pop trend we've heard over the past few months. Add "songs about working" to the list, with 5H reportedly changing the name of their lead single, to avoid confusion with Rihanna's own Work. Bouncy synths, handclaps, a repetitive earworm of a chorus — there's a reason why this song continues to climb the charts.
I Lied : 2015's favorite pop trend, tropical house, heightens the pulse of one of 7/27's catchiest melodies. “I said I loved you, but I lied / ‘Cause love never got me this high," the girls sing before a huge drop, expanding their repertoire to more production-heavy tracks bound for a packed dancefloor. If there's any other song on 7/27 that deserves a Work From Home-esque dance treatment, it's this one.
Dope : The group's take on the grey-area romances that their similarly-aged fans navigate, Dope sees the women of 5H playing the consummate cool girls, navigating how to express their feelings while maintaining their chill. Over breezy synths and pattering drumbeats, “I love you” turns into “I don’t know what else to say, but you’re pretty (expletive) dope, just so you know," before bursting into emotion in the bridge.
All In My Head (Flex) : With reggae upstrokes, a swaggering chorus and a welcome Fetty Wap feature, All In My Head is summertime in a song. Fetty reprises his Again melody to sing about two of his favorite subjects, money and women, on a tease of a verse that's all too short.
Write On Me : 5H aren't ones for ballads, and 7/27's lively tempo suits their strengths just fine. But Write On Me slows it down to an amble for a song that radiates warmth, epitomizing so much of what the group is all about — love, support and sisterhood.
Stream the entire album below.