Fifth…Fourth…and Now Third Harmony?

According to Billboard, Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei has signed a solo management deal with S10 Entertainment & Media. The singer, 21, was featured in a picture posted to Brandon Silverstein’s Twitter with a caption welcoming her to his entertainment group. Kordei will go by the name NORMANI as a solo artist and has already been working on music with alt-R&B singer Khalid. Kordei originally joined Fifth Harmony after auditioning for The X-Factor as a solo artist. The five girls, who had all been eliminated around the same time as Kordei, were then brought together and given the opportunity to remain on the show as a group. Agreeing to form Fifth Harmony, the girls finished The X-Factor in third place and since then have released three albums. In December of 2016, Fifth Harmony lost Camila Cabello for creative differences, but the foursome continued on under the same name. Cabello’s departure sparked a fair amount of drama among the group which played out on social media and was further fueled by the group’s performance on this year’s Video Music Awards. The performance began with the four members of Fifth Harmony and an extra standing on stage. Within moments, the extra jumped off the stage: a possible dig at Cabello for jumping ship.

Kordei, however, seems to have no intention of leaving the band. Although she has signed separately with S10 for management purposes, she plans to fulfill her role as a member of Fifth Harmony while creating her own solo music on the side.  She is not the first member of Fifth Harmony to venture outside of the band. A fellow member, Lauren Jauregui,  joined Halsey on the track “Strangers” and has continued her presence in the group. In the future, performing as a solo artist and as part of a musical group  may no longer be mutually exclusive as opportunities grow for artists like Kordei to explore both outlets at the same time. Fifth Harmony will continue to be managed by Maverick Management.

Jenna El-Fakih is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2020).