Fifth Harmony - Reflection -deluxe Edition- -

Reflection is not a perfect album. It suffers from 2015’s obsession with guest rap verses (Kid Ink and Ty Dolla $ign feel glued on). But the Deluxe Edition is the definitive artifact of Fifth Harmony’s most vital era: hungry, synchronized, and utterly convinced of their own worth. They were right.

The deluxe tracks—“Going Nowhere,” “Body Rock,” and “Brave, Honest, Beautiful”—are not filler. They are the evidence of a group experimenting. “Going Nowhere” could have been a single. “Body Rock” predicted the minimalist R&B of 2016. And “Brave, Honest, Beautiful,” for all its corniness, captures the earnest, pre-social-media-cynicism of a group that just wanted to make their fans feel seen. Fifth Harmony - Reflection -Deluxe Edition-

Before the infighting, before the “Hiatus,” and before the solo careers that would redefine pop, there was Reflection . Released on February 3, 2015, via Syco and Epic Records, Fifth Harmony’s debut studio album was never supposed to be this confident. Assembled on the second season of The X Factor USA in 2012, the group—Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, and Camila Cabello—were seen as plucky also-rans. They were the girl group that didn't win. But Reflection announced that they didn't need a trophy. They needed an anthem. Reflection is not a perfect album