Fifth Harmony Talk ‘Reflection Tour’, The White House, Harmonizers And Mariah Carey: Idolator Interview
We’ve been cruising with Fifth Harmony (with the top down!) from the beginning of their career: In fact, it feels like only yesterday when the girls first came into our office and blew us away with their covers of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran back in 2013. A year later, the fab fivesome returned with a whole new sound and style, delivering acoustic renditions of “Bo$$” and “We Know” prior to the release of their debut album, Reflection.
Once again, we met up with 5H earlier this month, only hours after their killer performance of their horn-heavy new single “Worth It” on Live With Kelly & Michael.
Together, the Bo$$e$ — Normani, Ally, Camila, Lauren and Dinah — sat down and chatted with us around a very “Worth It” video-like conference table. And the talented troupe had plenty to fill us in about ever since our last visit, beginning with their paper-flinging, hair-flipping performance earlier that morning — which they woke up to do at 3 AM. (!)
How long did it take for the entire performance to come together? “It took two days — actually, one day. As far as the creative process, we give all the props to our creative director and choreographer Sean Bankhead,” Normani revealed. “He came up with the concept of mimicking the music video, which you saw. We wanted to play on the video and he made it come to life. He did a really good job.”
Between TV performances and tours, the girls have been absolutely everywhere lately — including a casual trip to the White House, where they were called upon to perform at the annual Easter Egg Roll.
“The Easter Egg Roll is kind of one of the biggest things the White House puts together, and we got to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ for Michelle’s initiative, which is called LET’S MOVE. We got to stand on the balcony and sing out to all the people as if we were giving some presidential inauguration,” Lauren explained with a laugh.
“It’s really cool that we’re going have to have grandchildren and we’re going to be able to tell them that Obama — the President Of The United States — and the First Lady were flanking us at one point. And they…like us! They were like, ‘Hey guys, nice to see you!’ And we were like ‘You too, Mr. President!'”
“And we pet his dog!” added Camila. But don’t expect any selfies to come from inside the White House. “When we wanted to take pictures inside, they were like…’No pictures here!'”adds Dinah. “We can say that we were a part of history, which is insane if you truly think about. You can’t really grasp something like that,” Ally said.
The girls are riding high on a winning streak as well, having just snagged a Kids Choice Award for Favorite New Artist. “A KaCaw!” Camila chirped, as some of the girls looked around, puzzled. Get it? “K-C-A…KaCaw!”
Camila went on to praise her hard-working fans, the always devoted Harmonizers: “Our fans literally go so hard for us, especially on social media. Just in general, when they have a goal they want us to reach, they will literally do whatever it takes. They’ll call in radio stations every day, and if it’s an award that they want us to win, they’ll literally sit voting for hours on end. We’re always surprised when we win those awards just because the competition is intense — 5SOS, Meghan Trainor, incredible — but at the same time, it’s like…they got our back, always.”
That being said, the girls didn’t get everything they wanted while at the show: “We wanted to get slimed a little bit,” Normani sighed. “No, a lotta bit!” Dinah corrected her. “Yeah, me and Dinah!”
The girls are also still riding high off of their recent first-ever headlining North American run, the Reflection Tour. “Our first album was out, so we got to tour songs on an album — an actual body of work,” explains Lauren, “So that was our first time touring an album. The production value hiked up majorly. Our choreography, the performance value in terms of the songs we were doing…it was just a much bigger and better show. It sold out, I think, everywhere we went, so that was an incredible feeling.”
“You definitely have more control,” Normani adds. “As far as being the boss, we kind of dictated what we wanted the stage to look like as opposed to having only twenty minutes, and you not really being able to be as creative as you’d like. We really just got to incorporate our ideas and our input.”
Camila agreed, pointing out the difference between headlining and supporting on tour: “I think also in terms of comfort, it’s less about having to impress people and more about performing for your fans that love you, and making an experience for them, as opposed to ‘Hey, here’s what I do…hope you like it.’
And oh, how their fans love them — even to the point of chasing them crosstown.
“We have this awesome, super-human fan, Edward,” Ally says. “One time, we were doing either The Today Show or Good Morning America. Afterwards, we had to go to the airport, and so we were on our way and we see this kid all of a sudden running. We were like ‘Oh hey! So cute!’ And then he keeps going. And going. And going. Following us every block and it literally turns into like, what, like three miles? Four miles? He runs all the way from, like, Times Square to the friggin’ airport. Shout out to him, because that was awesome!”
“He was running again yesterday! He pops up out nowhere!” Dinah chimed in. “Go Edward. Future Olympian!” Ally giggled.
They’ve got fans in pretty high places too, including the Elusive Chanteuse herself Mariah Carey, who praised the girls’ homage, “Like Mariah.”
“Sometimes when people make a song about a certain person that they really love, they don’t really recognize them. Or they hear the song and they’re like, ‘Eh, I don’t feel it.’ But the fact that she gave us recognition? It was amazing. Coming from a legend?!” exclaimed Dinah.
“It meant even more to us because we grew up idolizing her,” Normani added.
As for what’s next for 5H? With “Worth It” continuing to surge up the radio charts, they’ll be doing even more promo: “We’re doing a lot of radio shows. In May, we’ll be on the road performing with some of our favorite artists. We’re doing Wango Tango. LA Pride. San Diego County Fair,” Ally said.
“There are things in the works for the summer,” Camila added.
While they’re not thinking of new music just yet (“It feels like it just came out last month!” exclaimed Ally), the girls are looking forward to continuing to promote their long-awaited debut. “The reason it feels so long is we’ve been promising it for about two years!” Lauren deadpanned. Clearly, good things come to those who wait.
With plenty still to come from Fifth Harmony in 2015, at least one thing’s certain: They’re not going nowhere.
And as for those posters and CDs the girls are signing in the photos above? Check back on Idolator soon to find out how you can win some copies for yourself!
