'It's More Personal to Us Now': Inside Fifth Harmony's Second Act

“You’re never guaranteed success,” Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei tells Fuse, “especially in the music industry. It’s pretty unpredictable—just like anything in life. And sometimes, you need to take a different approach, as a creative artist.”

Kordei is talking about Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home,” a sleek cavalcade of double entendres featuring Ty Dolla $ign that has become the biggest hit of the girl group’s career. The single has become the quintet’s first Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart, garnering 350 million YouTube views in less than three months and receiving performances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live with Kelly & Michael and this week’s Billboard Music Awards. 

Most importantly, it has stoked the excitement for Fifth Harmony’s sophomore full-length, 7/27, due out May 27; any pop artist would salivate at the chance of having a Top 40-dominating single peaking as a pivotal album approaches, and Kordei says that she and the rest of the girls never saw their perfectly timed smash coming.