7/27 is the second studio album by American girl group Fifth Harmony, released by Syco Music and Epic Records on May 27, 2016. The record is the follow-up to the group's debut studio album Reflection (2015). Its lyrics discuss themes of female empowerment and love. It features guest appearances by American R&B and hip hop artists Ty Dolla Sign, Fetty Wap and Missy Elliott, and collaborations with producers Jack Antonoff, Kygo and Norwegian duo Stargate. 7/27 is primarily a pop, tropical house and R&B record that includes elements of reggae, funk, electronic dance music, hip hop and trap. Unlike the genres explored on Reflection, 7/27 songs incorporate new genres like tropical house. This is the final Fifth Harmony album to feature Camila Cabello before she left the group in December 2016 to pursue a solo career.
The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, becoming the group's highest-charting album in the US to date, and selling 74,000 equivalent album units. 7/27 earned the group its first top-five entry in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three, and a top-five entry in Canada where it peaked at number three. Elsewhere, it peaked in the top fives of sixteen other countries, reaching number one in Spain and Brazil. To further promote the album, Fifth Harmony embarked on its fifth headlining concert tour, The 7/27 Tour, which visited North and South America, Europe and Asia. 7/27 received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics.
"Work from Home" featuring Ty Dolla Sign, the album's lead single, was released on February 26, 2016. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group's highest-charting single in the United States and the first top-five entry from an all-female group to chart in ten years since "Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls. Since its release, the song has charted in the top five of twenty-two countries. The second single, "All in My Head (Flex)" featuring Fetty Wap, charted in the top 25 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen other countries. Two promotional singles, "The Life" and "Write on Me", were made available before the album's release. The third and final single from the album, "That's My Girl", was sent to contemporary hit radio on September 27, 2016.
Background and production
Fifth Harmony's full-length debut album Reflection, which was released in January 2015 through Epic Records and Syco Music, introduced the group into the music industry and gave them credibility and popularity. The tracks "Boss", "Sledgehammer" and "Worth It" were released as singles, the latter being the most successful, reaching number 12 on US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album was also supported by the group's first headlining concert tour called The Reflection Tour, with various live performances in the North America, Europe and Asia. In 2015, the group was awarded "Group of the Year" at the Billboard Women in Music event.
Due to Fifth Harmony's positive commercial performance and accomplishments that year, Epic Records decided to develop the group's career, managing new recording sessions for its second album in September 2015, for which a release date of December 2015 was announced. The date was abandoned so the group could spend more time recording and organizing material. In conversation with Brennan Carley from Spin, Lauren Jauregui said the album would be released in "early 2016" and they were "putting final touches on it". Epic announced a release date of May 20, 2016, but this was later postponed by one week to May 27 to keep with the theme of 27. The following day, digital music platform iTunes updated the track list with two tracks under the explicit label, making this Fifth Harmony's first release to contain explicit lyrics. Each track was announced hourly through the group's Instagram page on April 28, 2016.
Recording
In an interview with Billboard on September 21, 2015, Cabello revealed that Fifth Harmony was about to start the recording of the album, and that they had received some demos and the members were "super excited" about some of them. After finishing the second leg of its summer tour in October 2015, the group entered a studio in Los Angeles to start recording the second project. The group's initial sessions were at Max Martin's writing camp, where they worked with several music producers, including Martin, Lukas Loules, Dr. Luke, Mitch Allan and Jason Evigan. In a studio with Martin, they recorded four to five songs a day to experiment with sounds and vocal techniques. Jauregui said Martin was in "great spirit the whole time", creating a "good vibe for recording". As of November 2015, the group had finished six tracks but these were not included in the final tracklist. Only two songs created at MXM Studios—"That's My Girl" and "The Life", both of which were written by Tinashe and Alexander Kronlund, and produced by Lukas Loules—were included on the final cut.
Searching for a more "soulful" and "emotional" project, the group wanted to focus its energy on songs about heartbreak and romance. Fifth Harmony worked with Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, known collectively as Stargate, who had produced "Worth It". They recorded a considerable number of tracks produced by Stargate at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, two of which were finished by Norwegian DJ Kygo, who added his characteristic beat to "Squeeze" and "Write on Me". During the sessions at Westlake Studios, the group had more involvement with co-writing "All In My Head (Flex)". Priscilla Renea, Simon Wilcox, Benny Blanco, Julia Michaels, Brian Garcia and Nolan Lambroza were included in the production team that helped structure the album. American singer-songwriter Victoria Monét produced the vocal performances for more than half of the songs in the album.
American producers Ammo and DallasK created the lead single "Work from Home" with Jude Demorest, Alexander Izquierdo, and Brian Lee. The song came to the group after its A&R Joey Arbagey played it during a meeting to discuss the album direction; the members responded positively to the song, mostly for its "laid-back" and "chill" atmosphere that featured "a kind of urban pocket". They immediately recorded the track at Windmark Recording. "Not That Kinda Girl" was written by Aaron Pearce and Jared Cotter. After finishing the track, the group felt it was "incomplete" and suggested the presence of a rapper would fit the production; the group members contacted Missy Elliott, who accepted their invitation to write and record a verse for the song. The production team for the album was The Monsters and the Strangerz ("I Lied"), BloodPop ("Scared of Happy"), Jack Antonoff (who wrote "Dope" with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter) and Tommy Brown ("No Way").
Title and artwork The album's title 7/27 refers to July 27, 2012, the date on which Fifth Harmony was formed on the American version of The X Factor. It was based on the members' identification with the music of the album, which they felt is more mature and personal than their previous release and selected a title to represent their growth as a group. Dinah Jane told Spin; "It's a side of Fifth Harmony that no one's really seen. In the beginning, we were super happy. Our first album was very jumpy. This time, we're showing who Fifth Harmony really is behind closed doors." The album's artwork and promotional pictures were photographed by Sasha Samsonova in a Californian desert; stylist Zoe Costello designed the costumes, the group's hair was styled by Clyde Haygood and Randy Stodghill, and makeup was done by Mylah Morales and Clarissa Luna. Samsonova said; "I love being on an all-girl set as it feels like a little family. When girls come together on set with an urge to create something great, there's nothing that can stop them."
The artwork shows the group on a desert road with a black car against a backdrop of mountains and a blue sky. In an interview with Music Choice, Cabello said the group was "really excited" about the album cover and proud of the visuals on the photoshoot because it represents the members' individuals aesthetics, describing the image as "kind of like a super glam fashion shot" that shows every member's style harmonizing with the others. The album's booklet contains photographs of each member posing in front of a gray t-top car. The title and the cover of the album were unveiled on February 25, 2016, on the group's official Instagram account with the caption; "We know there has been a lot of talk, but we wanted you to hear this from us ... Our new album 7/27 is coming May 20th".
Composition
Music and lyrics In conversation with Billboard, Epic Records' chairman and CEO L.A. Reid said 7/27 reflected the music that was predominating and growing into the mainstream in 2015 and early 2016, describing the album as a "modern" pop project. He affirmed that the group adapted their music to the current sound of radio at the moment, exemplifying the album Purpose (2016) by Justin Bieber and the music of DJs Calvin Harris, Skrillex and Diplo. 7/27s production can be considered more commercially viable than that of Fifth Harmony's previous album Reflection. Representing an extension of the band's musical catalog, much of the album consists of Electronic dance music (EDM) and tropical house, and like Reflection, this album incorporates urban contemporary music genres like R&B, hip hop and trap music. The album also has a funk-inspired track. Gerrick D. Kennedy from Los Angeles Times commented that the group explored more "radio trends on the bulk of the album"; while, The Atlantics Spencer Kornhaber said the sound on the album was becoming "very familiar to the average radio listener".
Reflection was constructed from a feminist perspective using hip-hop and R&B as a support for its empowered content; 7/27, however, veers into a softer side with mid-tempo ballads driven by acoustic guitar chords and minimalist elements. According to Matt Collar from AllMusic, the album has the same "slick, contemporary R&B sound accented by a confident, feminist-informed attitude" as Reflection. The most tropical songs are crafted using elements from Caribbean music genres such as reggae, dancehall, soca music and ska in its beats and instrumentation. Rolling Stones writer Christopher R. Weingarten said the beats of the record are "mostly booming or bouncy" and the "swagger is all over the place". The album has 15 tracks; its standard edition has 10 tracks while the deluxe edition has 12.
Songs and lyrical content 7/27 album opener track "That's My Girl" delivers a message of female empowerment. Its instrumentation includes "brassy horns, heavy bass, and an electronic drumroll". Gerrick D. Kennedy called the song a "horn driven bombast". The second track and lead single "Work from Home" incorporates elements of trap music with tropical beats. The song conveys a sexual tone using "work" as a euphemism for sexual seduction with synthesized hand-claps and heavy bassline. It contains a guest appearance by Ty Dolla $ign, who complemented the song's lyrical content using several sexual references. "The Life" has been described as a "danceable production, with a tropically-tinged drop building to a purely-pop chorus". According to Peter Meister from Sputnikmusic, it contains "eurodance-inspired beachhead synths that zoom across the bustling bass whilst they're singing of how far they've come". Its lyrics celebrates self-love and lifestyle with Fifth Harmony singing about "getting down on a beach in Dubai".