I never thought I would say this but I'm team Camila, why should she have to stay in an environment that she clearly wasn't enjoying? At least she fulfilled her obligations before dipping out, and by the looks of it she never did anything that was outside the rules of her contract. It's sad to see them try and demonise her from the jump, especially with the preaching of 'sisterhood' and whatnot all this time

It's difficult to find 4/5 singers with strong, diverse personalities, who are up for the work, who have good stage presence, who have at least adequate looks and star power, yes. Look at all the minor league boybands floating around the UK that we never hear about. Look what happened when Cowell tried to make Stereo Kicks. Remember western pop group markets historically tend to be winner take all, or at most resolve into a duopoly.

As for why not just make them a solo star, you see someone that could almost be a soloist but has a deficiency. Maybe they're too young (Beyoncé.) Maybe the voice is a little weak. Etc. Putting them in a group gives them a narrative and gives them time to train, and hopefully the other members balance out their weakness until it's mostly corrected. When you rip apart the group and launch them, they aren't just 19 year old pop girl #234782347, they have a fanbase and a controversial story to get headlines.

I'm team nobody. This only firms up my suspicion whenever there's a solo split, that its coming from the internal team and not some wild hare thought by the artist. Scooter Braun encouraged Nathan and (Max?) to leave from The Wanted, Tim Byrne engineered H & Claire leaving Steps and now Epic and C. I'm sure there's many more examples.

I bet you dollars to doughnuts that Perrie has had to withstand the whispers in her ears for years. I'd go further out on a shaky limb and guess that during her time with Mumbles it was really strong.

I have to say though, I respect the UK team much more for not following this path. Its reaped dividends now.

She didn't do anything technically wrong, but I'm sorry, I sure do think she started it. Like 1D there really was a 2+ year honeymoon period with 5H; I see cute pictures from it on Twitter once in a while. That ended around the time she started cozying up to Taylor. Let's not forget all the horrible stuff that leaked out of her personal accounts either.

Of course I tend to (for some reason) like Lauren out of the group despite her very obvious faults, so I will see events through that lens.

Which leads me to my other point, which is that I think the labels are missing a trick with their continued focus on pushing a single member of a group. It made for an easy narrative to promote in the TV and radio age, but in the social media age every single member of a successful group is going to have a valuable, durable fanbase. Sure Camila had the biggest individual base, but it's not that much bigger than those of the other girls (Lauren has 2.5m Twitter followers to Camila's 3.2m), and the OT5 fanbase is surely bigger still.

I don't hear many here many reflections on the idea that Little Mix are an example of a vocal group where the whole is actually greater than the sum of the parts. Yes, you can see and hear Perrie, Jesy, Jade and Leigh Anne as personalities just like any group member but together they are better than they would ever be on their own. Perhaps, Kelly saw that right at the start, I don't know.

This idea that the band is greater than the soloists goes right back to the Beatles. John, Paul, George and Ringo as solo artists or with other bands were never as good as The Beatles.

Little Mix will always be better as a group, there's a prediction.

I get where you're coming from and I'll explain myself

My support of her is nothing to do with her being a nice person, I don't think any of them are particularly nice. I don't even really like Camila, that's why I said I never thought I'd say this. There is a lot of bitterness and cattiness in that group, which I don't care for. I'm going from a purely contractual viewpoint, which, as you said, she technically did nothing wrong. If there had never been that clause for her to branch out individually, there would have been nothing for her to take advantage of. Even though that caused obvious problems, at least she just decided to keep it moving than try and remain in an environment where she wasn't happy for the sake of a couple of hits. It's not like they were very good at hiding their issues anyway

I think it depends on how good the band was. Britney was very briefly in a band before her Mouseketeer time but you never hear about it because the group went nowhere. Conversely, Nsync was huge and so JT's departure made a big impact.

I am not on anyone's 'team' either regarding 5H. I do have to say, though, that I can't imagine how unbelievably stressful it would be to be outsider of the group and having to show up for tours, music videos and tv appearances day and day with no-one speaking to you. Perhaps events have been exaggerated in the press, but had it really gotten to the point where no-one was speaking to Camila except if necessary?

I can fully believe it. Its happened with other groups before. It becomes a vicious circle though because each side after experiencing rejection just gives up after a while. C did her share to isolate herself too.

Basically every divorce ever!

So I wonder if Sony Music is now more interested in REALLY throwing some resources behind LM? They are very lucrative as a touring group.

Over 1k likes on the Paper Penthouse video, to 0 dislikes. It's a Christmas miracle.

Radio adds this week

5 LITTLE MIX Shout Out To My Ex

Oh god, I'd be so miserable. Especially given that girl group are expected to act like 'sisters'.

TBH, since there is that girl group trope, I always watch to see what they do off camera. Even with LM I do this. Lo and behold, the LM girls actually spend time socializing on their off hours! I dont even mean the events that Jade and Leigh Anne would be papped doing, I mean do I see them hanging out together between takes or before the gig or whatever. Yes they really do enjoy each other's company.

Its interesting to me that cowell seemed to have switched to 'loving' little mix this year, and now we find he had tried and failed to solve the 5h problem.

Then all of a sudden, 3 months in the US and the Ariana tour for little mix. I always wondered if the half hearted promotion was a tactical choice by syco. It would seem so.

I cant see any good sides to the 5h thing, it must have been toxic for everyone concerned, but what they have now is not going to be much better I don;t think. With the best will in the world, I cannot see the solo success coming, 5H couldn't move albums, I can't see how she will alone, her voice is a little annoying and she doesnt have the stagecraft to carry a tour by herself.

features don't pay the bills.Not of a full team like she has.

The other girls, it sounds like it is out of their hands with what happens next. No winners here, just a bad situation for all.

Definitely an annoying voice - to me - ( also AG - at least one or two of her songs I've heard )

But this brings me to ask -

What is this fan enthusiasm for high-pitched singing, that seems to be the rage atm???
It sometimes becomes very difficult to make out the words of a song when all I hear is screeching. . . . I mean, a naturally high note is one thing - but a continuously forced high, just turns me off.....

OT:-
The following is being "promoted" as a Charity single for Christmas . . .

Chip Pan by Everly Pregnant Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFH1Y0WocI

(A typically British thing at this T-o-Y - and some are hoping for a No.#1)

My parents commented on the same thing, interestingly. It just seems normal to me as someone who blew off pop until a few years ago, though. My speculation is that it helps the voice cut through in poor fidelity environments, raising the streaming rate.

The fact that Epic still has to decide whether not to renew the remaining four girls' contract is pretty insane and has to be terrifying for those girls. That's probably why they tried and tried to resolve things with Camila because they knew if she left, it would make everything 100% difficult.

If I were the remaining four I would get a replacement. With all these talent shows around there must be some girl who would fit in. Fleur East perhaps?

It would be fun to watch, but I can't think of a single time a replacement has worked unless it was a background member in a group with one central star. It's been an abject failure in many many kpop group trials too.

It's especially tough given the group is over 4 years old.

Edit: I guess Atomic Kitten and Sugababes were able to keep going for a while with replacements. Not the first things that came to mind as I wasn't paying attention to UK pop back then. Of course the duo/trio difference is huge, and those were never acts that were going to hit big in the US. Hmm.

Do replacements work in this day and age though?

I feel like their too well known now to get a replacement and that would only turn more fans away.

I'm surprised Simon hasn't proposed a reality show to find a replacement.

That was the purpose of a US show called Rockstar:INXS. After Michael Hutchence's death the remaining members agreed to audition a new singer through a tv show.

On a live performance as well it seems.....which is saying something, I'm sure

It isn't for me, though.

Can they please release the video for Touch before Ed releases his new single?