The Shady Side Everyone Ignores About Camila Cabello
Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Zayn, and now Camila Cabello. In the world of boy bands and girl groups, there inevitably comes a time when one member feels their star power outshines the rest of the group and they venture out on their own. It's a bold move to say goodbye to the group that kick-started one's career and definitely not a career choice for the faint of heart. Usually, the aspiring solo artist either departs the group with a whole lot of class or a whole lot of sass, and Cabello's exit from Fifth Harmony seems to fall into the latter category.
From hinting that she had no intentions of harmonizing with her group for the rest of her career to using the reputations of others to get ahead, here are the shadiest things this rising star has done that everyone just seems to ignore.
She started her girl group career with the end in sight
Fifth Harmony was formed by Simon Cowell during Season 2 of the American X Factor in 2012. In similar fashion to the formation of boy band One Direction, members Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah-Jane Hansen, Ally Brooke, and Cabello were thrown together after failing to impress the judges individually. In essence, five girls who all initially had dreams of becoming the next Beyoncé were suddenly forced to become a pseudo-Destiny's Child for the sake of their careers. (That doesn't sound like a recipe for disaster at all.)
Fast forward to a 2015 interview with Latina Magazine (via Teen Vogue). When Cabello was asked if she thought the group's members would go their separate ways, she said, "Honestly, I think we all do." She added, "The cool part is that we allow one another to do our own thing within this thing. I think it's healthy because if not, personally, I would go insane."
In retrospect, it doesn't seem like her bandmates shared her sentiments, considering Cabello was the only member of the group who publicized her independent urges a mere three years after the group was formed.
She tried to go solo while still part of Fifth Harmony
During her time with Fifth Harmony, Cabello released not one but two singles that featured her collaborating with artists outside of the group.
She teamed up with Shawn Mendes on the 2015 hit "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Following the release of that single, Cabello told Rolling Stone that exploring her options as a solo artist didn't mean she was leaving her group in the dust. "We are very different," she said, adding that the ladies "let ourselves explore."
In October 2016, mere months before she quit Fifth Harmony, Cabello released "Bad Things" with Machine Gun Kelly, which climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It's worth noting that throughout Fifth Harmony's entire career, it has only reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 charts once with "Work From Home."
It initially seemed like Cabello was trying to have her cake and eat it too, but by December 2016, she was apparently fed up with juggling life as a band member and aspiring solo artist, so she cut ties with the group that made her famous.
She was a hardcore One Direction fangirl
Prior to landing a spot in Fifth Harmony, Cabello was just another One Direction fangirl.
In an interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Cabello revealed that she had a twitter fan account for the boy band. Tweets that have since surfaced from the account indicate that she was still using it at least up until she auditioned for the X Factor. She went by the name @ratchetandsassy (an account which has since been taken over by someone else) and judging from her tweets, which we'll get to in a bit, her Twitter handle was a polite way of explaining her demeanor.
In December 2017, One Direction member Niall Horan confirmed that he knew about the account. "I remember, we went to perform on X Factor in the states when Fifth Harmony were on it," he told BBC Radio. "[Cabello] was freaking out, she told us she had a One Direction Twitter account, she was crying."
Did she tweet nasty comments about a fellow artist?
The "Bad Things" singer sure had some bad things to say on the aforementioned Twitter account.
Screenshots of Cabello's tweets from the summer of 2012 show her allegedly using the n-word multiple times. In addition to the foul language, Cabello also retweeted some insensitive tweets about former One Direction member Zayn Malik and his then-girlfriend, Perrie Edwards. One tweet implied that Malik was Hispanic (He's English) and suggested that Edwards was waiting for him at the Mexican border. Another re-tweet appeared to be a snide comment at Malik's expense concerning a One Direction trip to Africa: "why isn't zayn dancing with the rest of his family." The tweet seems to reference a video of Liam Payne and Harry Styles dancing with children while in Africa, therefore implying that Zayn is African.
Although Cabello has never confirmed that she was the one behind the controversial account, she did tweet @ratchetandsassy in May 2013 writing, "I hate you lol."
She might have used a famous ex to boost album sales
In 2014, Cabello had a brief fling with pop singer Austin Mahone (and by brief, we mean that even Taylor Swift has had relationships longer than this one.) The "Havana" songstress revealed that the two were dating during an interview on Watch What Happens Live on Nov. 3, 2014, but by Nov. 24, 2014, the singer was telling KISS 96.1 that her and Mahone had called it quits.
According to a Hollywood Life source, Cabello's big reveal marked the beginning of the end for the couple because Mahone wanted to keep the relationship private — oops! Mahone supposedly accused Cabello of touting their romance in order to sell albums, and she was allegedly so hurt by his accusations that they decided to split.
Whether Cabello was using Mahone or not, their relationship marked one of the first times that she was viewed as a separate entity from her girl group. She was no longer just one of the Fifth Harmony girls. She was the Fifth Harmony girl who was linked to Mahone. However, this wouldn't be the last star that Cabello would try to hitch her wagon to.
She dumped her bandmates to join Taylor Swift's squad
At one point in time, it seemed like everyone was trying to land a spot in Taylor Swift's girl squad — including Cabello. Although she'd been hand-selected for a girl squad of her own, she cast her sights on joining the ranks of Selena Gomez and Karlie Kloss instead.
Cabello and Swift met at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, and the rest is history. They apparently became instant BFFs. Swift even threw Cabello an 18th birthday party at her house! The most surprising part of the party wasn't the fact that Cabello had risen through the ranks of Swift's squad to warrant a personalized soiree, it's that the rest of Fifth Harmony was nowhere to be found. It's unclear if the rest of the girl group couldn't make it to the big 1-8 or wasn't invited, but its members total absence seems very odd.
In April 2016, Martha Hunt took to Instagram to post a video showing Cabello teaching members of T-Swift's squad the choreography from Fifth Harmony's song "Work From Home." Meanwhile, her actual "Work From Home" squad was once again MIA.
She shared a cryptic post hours before ditching the group
Mere hours before news broke that Fifth Harmony would be down a vocalist, Cabello took to Instagram to hint at her departure.
On Dec. 18, 2016, the pop singer posted a solo photo of herself looking totally unbothered with the caption: "I'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude." Spoiler alert: apparently Fifth Harmony wasn't sweeter than her solitude.
Later that day, Fifth Harmony released its official statement about Cabello's exit, saying, in part: "We are excited for our future ... Harmonizers, we are in this together."
It seems like it would have been more effective for Cabello to share a statement as opposed to a shady snapshot, but we guess if she was going to leave Fifth Harmony, she wanted to look good while doing it.
Fun fact: the last group shot Cabello posted on social media was on Nov. 20, 2016, when Fifth Harmony won an American Music Award. After that, it was all solo shots of Cabello and promos of her new music sans the group. We guess you could say the proof was in the pudding — er, posts.
Were her bandmates blindsided?
According to Fifth Harmony's official statement, Cabello did not directly inform the girls that she would be leaving the group and instead communicated the message through her representatives. Jeez, after being together for four years, you would think that she could have at least sent them a quick text message.
However, according to Cabello's official statement, she claimed to be "shocked" about the statement her former bandmates released about the break. "The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, much needed conversations about the future that we had during tour. Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was 'leaving the group' is simply not true."
The circumstances surrounding Cabello's exit turned into a bit of a they-said-she said situation, and we might never know what really went down. Cabello's statement never explained how or when she told her colleagues about her departure, so unless they were just supposed to guess based on her "feelings," it definitely seems like there was more to this exit than Cabello let on.
She may have 'officially' left the group in 2015
Since the details surrounding Cabello's exit are fuzzy, fans have scoured the internet for any bit of information that might point to when and why Cabello decided to bow out.
In October 2017, a "leaked" contract that supposedly detailed Cabello's departure surfaced, and get this: The contract made it appear as though Cabello had tried to leave the group in 2015.
The contract, which made its rounds on Twitter, is titled "Notice of Withdrawal From the Fifth Harmony Partnership" and is dated Sept. 18, 2015. In the document, Cabello seemingly expresses her interest in a "voluntary withdrawal" from the group. However, the end of the document reads: "Be advised that I fully intend to remain in the group, but as an individual and not as a member of the partnership."
While the authenticity of the contract was never confirmed, it certainly jives with what Cabello did toward the end of her time with Fifth Harmony — behaving as a solo artist while still technically being part of the group.
Were they all fake friends?
In an interview with Elle in October 2017, Cabello opened up about her thoughts on fake friends, and the whole thing felt like shots fired at her former group members: "You can think someone's your friend, and it could be out of convenience, or there was something in it for them, or whatever," she said. "And a year later, something happens and you really need help, or all of a sudden they have to stand up for you, and it could be inconvenient for them or not benefit them. And they don't have your back." It's probably no coincidence that she decided to throw in the part about it being a "year later" when she was a few months out from the one year anniversary of quitting Fifth Harmony.
Granted, her former bandmates seem to think she's a fake friend as well, seeing as they did a performance where they literally had a "fake Cabello" booted off of the stage.
It seems both parties have dished out their fair share of pettiness, but hopefully they can just agree to disagree on the terms of Cabello's exit and continue to make music for their fans. At the end of the day, that's really what it's all about.