So, I’ve talked about Normani a lot on my channel, and I’ve even talked about 5th Harmony, but I
realized I haven’t ever said much about Lauren Juaregui, who was my favorite member. To me,
Lauren always seemed like the one most vocal about 5th Harmony being overworked, and taken
advantage of, and just seemed to be open about not being completely happy while in the group.
I wanted to take a look at what LAuren’s been doing with her music career since
5th Harmony disbanded in 2018, and see what she’s up to. Let’s get into it.
Lauren actually did several collaborations and features while still in 5th Harmony. She said the
purpose of this was to branch out and discover her sound. She worked with artists including Marian
Hill, Steve Aoki, and Ty Dolla Sign. Lauren’s most popular collaboration from that time was probably
Strangers, her song with Halsey. Strangers was praised for being a mainstream love song between
2 women. Halsey chose Lauren for the collab because she was a fellow openlyl queer pop artist,
and she liked the idea of them doing a love song together. Lauren was actually voted artist
of the year at the 2017 British LGBT Awards. Lauren was the primary songwriter on all night,
her collaboration with steve aoki. Aoki spoke highly of her, saying, “She's got
so many ideas ... She's very meticulous. The attention to detail Lauren has is something
I don't find in many people. ... She's got those ears, the sensibility and the vision".
Lauren also produced the vocals on All Night. In early 2018, it was announced Lauren would be
signing to Columbia Records to release her solo music. Lauren started her solo career
almost immediately after 5th Harmony broke up.It appeared that her music would be more R&B and
soul influenced than the music she’d made with 5th Harmony. Just a few months later, Lauren performed
some of her new songs when she opened for Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom tour that summer.
One of the songs was her debut single expectations, which she officially released
in October of 2018. Lauren wrote the R&B song herself, and it’s about a lack of reciprocity
in a relationship. Lauren also creatively directed the music video for expectations.
Expectations was one of the first songs that Lauren wrote after 5th
Harmony disbanded. Due to the warm reception when she performed it on tour with halsey,
Lauren ended up releasing it officially. Music Reviews called expectations slinky, sultry,
and sexy, and it earned positive reviews from publications like MTV, BBC, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Lauren’s opened up about how finding her identity as a person and artist post fifth Harmony was an
ongoing struggle. She said, “It’s hard to know your voice in those kinds of circumstances. This
isn’t so much as a dig as it is a realization I came to while I was in the group and shortly
afterward when it ended. I had this whole moment of my soul returning to me and me being kind of
like, ‘Woah. Who are you? Who do you want to be?” Lauren’s next single, More than That, was released
in January of 2019. Lauren also wrote this song well before its official release. It’s inspired by
Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love. Throughout the song, Lauren warns the person she’s flirting
with that they’re going to have to actually work hard to impress her. Lauren creatively directed
the music video and designed the cover art, which was inspired by Botticelli’s the Birth of Venus.
Billboard called the cover art “Louvre- worthy”. Both MTV and Vogue called More Than That Hypnotic,
with MTV going on to call the song a sultry number that finds Lauren asserting her dominance.
The music video shows Lauren in the role of a modern Aphrodite, who visits a strip club full
of other women. Lauren described the concept for the video as Aphrodite visiting earth and
being surrounded by the earthly embodiments of the divine feminine. She said her goal was to empower
women, and revere their strength and sensuality. Honestly, its always made sense to me that
Lauren’s music and visuals would go in this direction. Even while she was in 5th Harmony,
she always had this sort of dark, alluring look to her that suits a more sexy seductive
concept as shes moved into adulthood. A few months later, in April 2019,
Lauren split from her then-boyfriend, Ty Dolla Sign. The two had been dating officially since
2017, shortly after collabing on Work from Home, which had been a smash success for 5th
Harmony. Early into their relationship, they collaborated on his song, In Your Phone. When
they’d initially started dating, Lauren said the relationship worked because they got along easily,
and he helped her find confidence as a musician. The two posted cryptic messages on their social
media accounts just days before their breakup was confirmed. Personally, I always got kind
of weird vibes from this relationship, probably because of the 14 year age gap, and the fact that
lauren was like barely an adult when they met. that summer, Lauren was personally invited by
Quincy Jones to perform at the Montreux Jazz festival. She performed a cover of
You Don’t Own Me, and expressed gratitude at not only being included in the festival,
but being made to feel welcome by the high-caliber artists at the festival.
Lauren announced her debut album would be coming in 2020, just after winning choice female artist
at the 2019 teen choice awards. She beat out artists like Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish,
and Taylor Swift. About the upcoming album, Lauren said, “I’m so proud of the way that I’ve been able
to articulate my point of view. I’m emo, so you’re gonna get some deep, dark lyrics from my soul,
but some bops too…It’s gonna be really fun. I’m really excited to share it with the world,
but I’m just kind of packaging everything and still finishing up some songs.”
Lauren didn’t release her album in 2020, but she did continue to release music. She released
Invisible Chains, which was on the Birds of Prey Soundtrack. She also featured on Nada,
a song from Puerto Rican Producer and writer Tainy. Lauren sings in Spanish on this song,
and it seemed to be a promise we could expect more music in Spanish from her in the future. At an
event for Rolling Stone, Lauren opened up about her creative process as she continued working
on her album. She said, “These past two years have been a deep dive into that subconscious of
mine and that world of mine and really getting in touch with what I want to say, what kind of
messages I have for people. Honestly, what kind of messages I have for myself. Because my art has
been such an exploration of self… It’s been such a healing process for me to write the music, to get
these lyrics out of me and learn that I’m good at what I do and really believe that about myself.”
Lauren released her next single, Lento in March 2020. Lento, which means slowly in Spanish,
was produced by Tainy. In the song, Lauren sings in both English and Spanish. Lauren
has always been proud of being a Latina, and has mentioned her Cuban roots numerous times,
even during her time in 5th Harmony. Lento is upbeat yet sensual, and I feel like Lauren’s
slightly raspy voice lends itself well to this type of music. I love her voice in English,
but I love it even more in Spanish. Two other versions of Lento were released, one featuring
Pablo Vittar and a remix with Rauw Alejandro. Lauren’s next release, 50ft, also had both
English and Spanish lyrics. I love when artists do this, because one, I feel like they deliver
lyrics differently in both languages, and can also express feelings and ideas differently.
Like several other artists, Lauren’s momentum was slowed due to the pandemic. She’d been slated to
perform at music festivals, but her appearances had to be postponed for the following year.
Lauren lent her vocals to a song on 2021’s big femme energy volume 1, a project by
femme it forward. The album included songs from other popular female singers like Tayla Parx,
Muni Long, Tierra Whack, and Kiana Lede. Lauren announced her long awaited EP,
Prelude in the fall of 2021. The EP was promoted with a pre-release livestream performance. It’s
cinematic, and sultry, and dreamy. Lauren sings live throughout the whole performance,
and dances throughout as well. Lauren delivers both vocals and emotion, and you
can see here that she has a passion for music that transcends throughout her lyricism, her visuals,
and her creative direction. I’ve seen this performance before, but it doesn’t get old. It’s
just a reminder that Lauren can siiiing, and I don’t think she gets enough credit for that.
There are moments where I’m reminded of contemporaries that Kali Uchis,
or Jazmine Sullivan, and in a lot of ways I can see her in a similar lane as them eventually.
Prelude was officially released in November 2021. Lauren released it independently under her label
attunement records. She wrote or co-wrote every song on the EP. About this, she said, “It's such
an intimate process to find out who you click with songwriting-wise, because you have to be really,
really vulnerable with people that you don't really know. And you have to do it really,
really fast. I found some incredible collaborators in the process and you can hear it in the tracks”.
Apparently, Lauren created over 50 songs for Prelude. She eventually only settled for 7,
though she expressed the possibility of releasing some of the rejects on future projects.
prelude is such a solid body of work, especially so early into Lauren’s solo career.
Of course at the time of its release Lauren had been in the industry for a while,
but this project showcases her artistry in a way she couldn’t in 5th Harmony.
From the very first chords on the intro, it’s evident you’re not just in for a collection of
songs, but an actual experience with a story and some real emotions behind it.
I think Lauren is one of those singers where you can actually hear how she’s feeling in her voice,
which just adds another layer to her music. Instead of getting a sanitized teen pop star,
we’re getting the rawer, more vulnerable side of Lauren that she’s talked about for years,
from her struggles with depression and anxiety, to finding herself in the public eye.
The EP ties together several genres and influences from R&B, to hip hop, to pop, to latin music.
One of my favorites on the EP, Scattered, has a Vic Mensa feature. Timbaland produced the track
falling, and I’m not sure how to explain it, but it sounds like a song you’d hear in some
drama about a woman in her early 20s. Like in a way it has Insecure vibes or something. Like,
it definitely gives my life is in shambles but I’m figuring it out vibes, and I love it. On
Guard is another favorite. It reminds me of Focus By Her, but it expresses more hesitance to love
someone than Her’s song. The song has a feature from Black, who’s also collaborated with former
5th Harmony member Normani. Sorry is the song that gives me Jazmine Sullivan vibes, and I think it’s
because of the orchestral production, as well as the fact that they both have raspy voices.
I really love how throughout Prelude, Lauren blends classical music and instruments with R&B
to create a vibe that should feel romantic, but instead feels heartbreaking and dramatic. In Don’t
wanna Say, she adds trumpets and Spanish lyrics that are a direct homage to her Cuban Roots.
Lauren has said that Prelude is just that, an introduction to another project
she has coming up soon. She said it felt great to be able to write her own music,
and not have to wait to be told by anyone that it was good enough or ready to put out.
This body of work is amazing because it shows that Lauren is a vocalist, a lyricist, and a creative
director all in one. Like she really knows how to execute a vision. Her music isn’t complex to the
point where it’s unrelatable, but it’s also not so generic that I can’t tell what she’s trying to
achieve. From interviews Lauren’s done, it’s also clear that she’s good at articulating what she
wants out of her music, which seems like it helps her get the best possible result out of her sound
engineers, and her producers, and the artists who feature. And this is even more impressive knowing
Lauren’s never had any formal music training, but creates from a place of intuition and
emotion. I feel like a lot of great artists do, because you just can’t teach certain aspects of
creativity that are required to make good music. For her work on prelude, Lauren Jauregui won
Breakthrough Media Artist at the 2022 GLAAD Awards. After the release of Prelude, she did
a few small, intimate shows to promote the EP. The venues were smaller, and Lauren delivered
more stripped back performances that were likened to cabaret style shows. She said she
wanted to have more intimate moments with her fans prior to going on a bigger tour.
In the summer of 2022, Lauren accompanied Banks as the opening act on her Serpentina Tour.
Lauren‘s also announced dates in South America for her tour, an Evening With Lauren Jauregui.
Most recently, Lauren’s featured on Snow Tha Product’s song pina. Even though it’s just a
feature, like I said, there’s just something that hits different about Lauren singing in Spanish.
Lauren is currently still working on her second EP, in which she plans to do more Spanglish and
Spanish music she didn’t showcase on Prelude. In her personal life, Lauren’s been involved in
activism for several causes such as mental health, education, and the LGBTQ community. Back in 2016,
she penned an open letter to Trump supporters, explaining how what they
might consider to be a difference in political opinion could have real and harmful effects on
multiple marginalized communities. Lauren explained how she felt it was a slap in
the face to her identities as a Cuban woman, a bisexual woman, and a daughter of immigrants.
In 2018, she served as a moderator for a panel on immigration activism, hosted by Teen Vogue.
Lauren has said multiple times that she aims with her presence and music
to provide representation to members of the LGBT community. Lauren has been open about
how being questioned about her sexuality and attempting to navigate it in the public eye,
especially as a teenager, was a hard time for her.
Lauren also participated in several Womens’ marches, attended and spoke at several protests,
and regularly uses her platform to encourage fans who are able to vote.
Early on in the pandemic, Lauren performed for Together at Home, a virtual campaign meant to
unite people virtually, but also encourage them to take proper health precautions. Lauren also
donated PPE to frontline workers and urged her fans to stay home if
possible and to wear masks otherwise. In an interview with the gay times,
Lauren said about About her ractivism, Lauren has said, "I think it's a mistake to separate
being a human who lives in the country that I live in from being an artist. I think it's
even more important for me to be political because I have a voice that speaks to people,
sometimes beyond even what politics can do. I think it's kind of dangerous not to be involved.”
Lauren’s also getting deeper into the fashion world, now that she doesn’t have to suffer at
the hands of the 5th Harmony stylists. Lauren’s a savage x Fenty ambassador, and has been for
a little while now. She’s also taken part in several shoots for fashion magazines,
and attended events for fashion week. It seems like Lauren’s happier with a
lot more agency and creative control in her career. She’s only 26, and sometimes
I forget how young all of 5th Harmony still is because they were so young when the group got
their start. So she still has a lot of time to keep growing and evolving in her music. I
think a lot of people have overlooked Lauren’s solo career in favor of Camila and Normani,
which is a shame because Lauren is really paving her way as an artist, both in R&B and Latin music.
Honestly, I could see Lauren’s career having a similar trajectory to someone like Becky G,
who started off in the English Market but became a superstar after crossing over into the latin
market. A lot of Americans act like becky g flopped or fell off, but in reality, she just went
to a market that embraced her more. Becky herself said she felt lonely in the English market,
and that feeling changed when she relaunched her career. I think sometimes we Americans forget how
huge some artists are in other countries, just because they aren’t huge in the US.
I could definitely see Lauren going down like a Becky G, Karol G, Natti Natasha sort of path.
She’s already worked with a lot of popular Latin artists, so I feel like if she wanted to rebrand,
or release more Spanish music, which she said she plans to, she’ll find a lot of success there. I
mean regardless, I’ll be listening to whatever she puts out because this woman’s an artist.
Now I get why Laure was so pissed in 5th Harmony, because she probably had
a lot of talemt to show that was being stifled. Lauren’s definitely versatile,
but still comes off as sure of her artistic voice and direction. I do hope that in the future,
that people begin to giver her credit as the creative she is, and hopefully it’ll come as she
continues to grow in her art. Lauren shows such a passion and excitement for her music, and to me
she’s another example of an artist that proves good music comes out of letting artists take
control over their career, especially when they have the creative eye and ear that Lauren has.