From The X Factor to Camila Cabello’s exit: Timeline of Fifth Harmony beef explored amidst group’s reunion at Jonas Brothers concert

From The X Factor to Camila Cabello’s exit: Timeline of Fifth Harmony beef explored amidst group’s reunion at Jonas Brothers concert
Fifth Harmony (Image via official Instagram/@fifthharmony)

Fifth Harmony recently reunited at the Jonas Brothers concert on August 31, 2025. The reunion was of the four mainstays of the band, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui and Ally Brooke, and Normani. Camilla Cabello was absent, having left the group back in 2016.

The four members of Fifth Harmony reunited for the first time since they declared that they were going on an "indefinite hiatus" back in 2018. The group has also updated their website with a new logo and has released new merchandise: A hoodie and a T-shirt.


Fifth Harmony beef timeline

Fifth Harmony started in 2012, with the group members having auditioned as soloists in the second season of The X Factor. The singers were unable to pass as soloists and then subsequently reformed into a group as Fifth Harmony. The group failed to make it to the final stage of the competition.

Soon after their time on The X Factor, the group released their debut EP, Better Together, in 2013. This was followed by their debut album, Reflection, on January 30, 2015.

Soon after the first album was released, conflict began to emerge between the group's members, particularly Camilla Cabello, on one side, and the other four members of the group.

In an interview with Latina magazine in November 2015, Cabello answered in the affirmative regarding the question of whether or not she thinks the group would break up in the future:

"Honestly, I think we all do. We’d be lying if we all said this is a picture-perfect thing, like we all completely agreed on the album track list and what the sound and the music video treatment would be like...for manufactured bands, it’s harder. The cool part is that we allow one another to do our own thing...I think it’s healthy because if not, personally, I would go insane."

This created a rift between the group, with the four other members spotted together in a studio without Cabello soon after. This was also after Cabello released her debut single with her then-boyfriend Shawn Mendes. The group released their second album, 7/27, on May 27, 2016.

After multiple absences from the rest of the group, Cabello won four awards under Best Pop Video and Fan Fave Video at the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards for her single I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The singer was criticised by Clara Jauregui, Lauren Jauregui's mother, in a deleted tweet, for failing to acknowledge the group's contribution to her career. In August 2016, Normani Kordei failed to mention anything nice about Cabello.

Camilla Cabello subsequently left a Fifth Harmony concert midway in September 2, 2016. On December 19, 2016, Fifth Harmony announced Camilla Cabello's exit from the group, stating in a statement on their X group:

"After 4 and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well. …"

Camilla Cabello subsequently contradicted this statement in her own X page:

"I was shocked to read the statement the fifth harmony account posted without my knowing. 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 group responded with their own statement, stating that they had tried to communicate with Cabello and her representative for over a year. Subsequently, a shadowed figure meant to represent Cabello was thrown off stage by Fifth Harmony at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2017.

In 2018, the group announced its split. In 2024, Normani Kordei and Camilla Cabello supported each other after they dropped solo projects, showing that the two had reconciled at least a bit.

Edited by Amey Mirashi