Fifth Harmony show easy harmony
2 native Texans among crooning girl group
It was a homecoming of sorts for Fifth Harmony at RodeoHouston.
Half of the girl group, who performed Friday for a crowd of 64,006, has Texas ties. Normani Kordei is from Pearland; Ally Brooke is from San Antonio.
“So you guys know this is my hometown, right?” Kordei said.
She’s originally from New Orleans but moved here after Hurricane Katrina.
Kordei debuts Monday as a competitor on “Dancing with the Stars.” Her professional partner Val Chmerkovskiy made a brief onstage appearance.
The quartet entered the stadium in a horse-drawn carriage, an homage to past performances from Beyoncé and Selena, as Queen’s “We Will Rock You” boomed throughout the stadium.
They were all in red, a bubbly mix of hair flips, hip shakes and calls to “make some noise.”
Fifth Harmony was created on the U.S. version of “The X Factor” and was the only successful act to emerge from the show.
Member Camila Cabello left the group in December. She was arguably the most skilled vocalist and also pulled most of the attention.
Now that she’s gone, the spotlight is distributed more evenly. There’s an easier rapport between the remaining four girls.
Kordei, Hernandez, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jáuregui worked their way through pop anthems “That’s My Girl,” “Miss Movin’ On” and the still spec tacular “Sledgehammer.”
“This is How We Roll” was EDM-lite. And “Write on Me” boasted sweet, soulful harmonies.
They took time to find their footing, sometimes struggling with pitch, but settled into a fierce groove during the bendand-bounce of “Reflection.”
“BO$$,” with its campy nod to powerful women — “Michelle Obama/Purse so heavy/Gettin’ Oprah dollars” — made the entire stadium snap to attention and dance.
They hit peak pop powers, of course, during “Worth It” and “Work from Home,” whose earworm choruses will be reverberating through RodeoHouston for days to come.