Ally Brooke Says She Was the ‘Glue’ of Fifth Harmony

Ally Brooke is opening up about her time in Fifth Harmony, which was formed on The X Factor in 2012.

In a wide ranging interview with Keke Palmer for the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast this week, the 30-year-old star revealed a compliment that the show’s judge Simon Cowell told her while she was on the singing competition. “After we were formed, Simon pulled me to the side and he said, ‘You are the glue who holds the group together,” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, what?’… It was like a crown that he was giving me.”

The interview comes years after Fifth Harmony — which was reduced to Ally Brooke, Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane after Camila Cabello left — disbanded in 2018. Since then, Ally has released a number of singles as a solo artist, starting with “Low Key” in 2019.

As for a 5H reunion, Ally told Billboard last year that it’s entirely possible. “We’re women now and we have grown so much and we have done our own thing, gone our own ways and gone our own path. And now we’re together in a different light,” she explained, while hinting at more reunions with the other members in the future. “I’m trying to reunite with them, so I think some sort of reunion may happen.”

She also promised that an album is on the horizon for 2024: “There is 100 percent an album, but that will be for next year,” she said. “Fingers crossed, but it’s really true. We’re just beginning to work on it and we have a lot that’s in store.”

Watch the full episode of Baby, This Is Keke Palmer with Ally Brooke below.