Where’s the Harmony in this break-up?
Anybody with a social media account has seen this: someone announcing a breakup on Facebook or Twitter. With the popularity of social media, there is no privacy anymore. And it’s not the website’s fault because it’s the users who air their dirty laundry themselves.
Sometimes, when one is angry and holding a gadget, he or she can’t help but tweet about his or her feelings. And celebrities, even with paid publicists and managers who make sure their reputation is intact and at its ultimate best, are not immune to the social media bug of saying—or typing—out loud the thoughts they ought to keep to themselves.
US President-elect Donald Trump is known for tweeting controversial remarks at ungodly hours. He may have Ivy League-educated advisers—including daughter Ivanka Trump—but they don’t have direct access to Trump’s phone.
Nowadays, celebrities make big announcements on social media platforms. Just this week, two big “breakups” happened and people learned about it on social media: Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna, and Camila Cabello and Fifth Harmony.
Camila became a top-trending Twitter hashtag last Monday (Sunday night in the US) following Fifth Harmony’s announcement that Cabello left the group.
“After four 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,” Fifth Harmony’s statement read.
But Cabello took offense that the statement made it seem like she didn’t inform her former bandmates— Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane Hansen, Lauren Jauregui and Normani Kordei—that she was leaving.
Since Fifth Harmony made the breakup official on social media, Cabello responded with her own lengthy social media post.
“I was shocked to read the statement that the Fifth Harmony account posted without my knowing. The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, muchneeded conversations about the future that we had during tour,” Cabello said.
“Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was ‘leaving the group’ is simply not true. Just like (what) the other girls said in their statement about their plans, I had also planned to continue with my own solo endeavors in the New Year but I did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way.”
Cabello also shared how the last close to five years were the most important chapter of her life. She became a member of the group at the age of 15.
Cabello, Brooke, Hansen, Jauregui and Kordei individually auditioned for
The X Factor USA in 2012. They failed to progress but were encouraged to continue on as a group. Fifth Harmony is the most successful act that came out of the American X Factor.
The departure may be surprising— because of the informality of the announcement—but fans saw it coming. Cabello has been doing her own thing in the last couple of years. Last year, she released the hit I Know What You Did Last
Summer with Shawn Mendes. Last month, Cabello also released a collaboration with Machine Gun Kelly called Bad Things. It recently entered the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
Kardashian, Chyna
Over the weekend, another troubled relationship was blasted on social media.
Kardashian announced Chyna had left him.
The announcement has since been deleted on social media. Instead, Kardashian’s latest post was more apologetic.
“This weekend, I was in an emotional bad place and did some things that embarrassed myself and my family. I apologize and I’m seeking help to deal with my flaws/issues. Please pray for me and I’m sorry, (Blac Chyna). You are a great mother to our child and I love you,” Kardashian said on Instagram along with a photo of himself and Chyna.
He also shared a photo of daughter Dream: “I am going to get better for you, Dream. You are my life and (you) gave me a new start on being a better man. Love you.”
It was a stark contrast to what the 29-year-old posted a day before: “I have never been this heartbroken in my life. My baby girl is one month old and Chyna took her and left this beautiful home that I just bought for us—right before Christmas.”
“I truly loved Angela (Blac Chyna). I gave everything I owned for her. Didn’t know I was just part of her plan. I am so broken,” the post continued.
Kardashian’s post didn’t come from nowhere. He did so within hours of the alleged hack on Chyna’s Instagram account.
The hacker posted screen shots of Chyna’s direct messages to rappers and athletes including Young Thug and Jaden Smith. In some of the messages, Chyna called Kardashian “fat” and “lazy.” She also said she would break up with him after a year, and only after she had trademarked her future married name: Angela Renee Kardashian.
Chyna’s real name is Angela Renee.
‘We said, she said’
But the drama with Fifth Harmony did not end with Cabello’s statement. Yesterday, the band posted a lengthy press release on its official Instagram account. “The last thing we want to do is engage in a battle of ‘we said, she said.’ But we’ve let our story play out in the press and on social media for too long. So to our Harmonizers, whom we care so deeply about, we want you to hear everything from us, unedited, not manipulated—just us, to you,” Brooke, Hansen, Jauregui and Kordei’s letter addressed to their fan army read. “Over the past several months, we have made every effort to sit down and discuss the future of Fifth Harmony with Camila. We have spent the year and a half (since her initial solo endeavor) trying to communicate to her and her team all the reason why we felt Fifth Harmony deserved at least one more album of her time, given the success of this past year that we’d all worked so hard for,” it continued. Fifth Harmony said that Cabello refused all meetings they sought with her and her team. This is opposite to Cabello’s claim. The four remaining members of Fifth Harmony said they were hurt when they were informed by Cabello’s manager in mid-November that her last performance with the group would be on Dec. 18. But they echo Cabello’s statement that this social media back and forth was not how they wanted to end their professional relationship. “To watch Camila walk away from this special world we’ve built with you is tough, but we will move forward together. We are excited to continue to put positivity into the world and light into people’s lives. The four of us recognize that we would be NOTHING without Fifth Harmony and we will continue to honor that,” the statement also said. Fifth Harmony ended with a note that it would be the last statement they would release about Cabello’s departure. They said: “We know our truth. We know the hard work we’ve put in and how we’ve tried time and time again to make this work for the five of us.”
“The girls were aware of my feelings…” CAMILA CABELLO “The four of us recognize that we would be NOTHING without Fifth Harmony.” ALLY, DINAH, LAUREN AND NORMANI