It’s been a whirlwind fall for Lauren Jauregui. On Aug. 31, she reunited with her Fifth Harmony sisters for the first time in seven years, and the following day she landed a last-minute spot on Dancing With the Stars, twirled through three episodes before her elimination — and now, she’s finally ready to drop the debut solo album her fans have been waiting for for years.
“I was like, ‘Let’s give them the music,’” says Jauregui. “I feel like it aligns really well with the moment — being on Dancing With the Stars and just having the energy focus. You know how fickle this industry is.”
On Friday, Jauregui will officially release her single “Ego,” the first track off her upcoming debut album — a follow-up to the aptly named EP pair Prelude and In Between.
“You know me, I’m a very introspective girly, artsy girly. I’m always going to be,” she says. The new song features Jauregui harmonizing over the strums of a guitar as she sings to a love interest she’s struggling to connect with because they’re too closed off and unwilling to open up. The song shifts in the second verse, when Jauregui flips the lyrics to sing about herself.
“A lot of the time we’re telling everybody else what’s wrong with them — why you can’t commit, why you’re not showing up… then very often when you do an internal look, you’re creating your own reality,” Jauregui explains. “So if you’re not checking your own ego, then you’re also never going to be able to manifest or bring in the kind of love that you say you’re looking for.”
Jauregui sees her upcoming album as an evolution from her previous two EPs in telling her story and the different versions of herself, including “some that I am letting go of,” she says. “When I’m done with the project and it’s ready to go, it’s more so that version of me is gone.”
Jauregui says the new album will feature some vault songs, including one that “OGs are going to be excited about,” but also tracks she’s worked on over the last four years, reflecting her journey in life and in music. Sonically, she sees “Ego” as an introduction to the album’s world, which she says taps into a pop-punk energy inspired by Avril Lavigne, Fall Out Boy, and Paramore.
“I’ll always be a pop girlie in my heart, but I have to get my rock off, if you will,” she says. “I have a lot to say, and I feel like rock is just such a great medium to express angst and vulnerability, and alternative realms allow me to incorporate the things that make me me. I’m always going to give you a soulful vocal.”
Jauregui admits that finalizing her debut album as an independent artist hasn’t been easy. After a brief stint signed to a label early in her solo career, the singer has had to navigate releasing music entirely on her own. She says the industry’s obsession with virality has made it harder for artists to build sustainable careers.
That desire for autonomy has also led her to experiment with new ways to connect with fans and distribute her art. In the last year, Jauregui launched her own application where fans can pay for direct access to live videos and content posted by her and for fans. She’s also partnered with EVEN, a direct-to-fan platform where fans can pay to listen to her music directly before it makes it to streaming services. (“Ego” has been out for paying fans on EVEN for at least two weeks.) Through those spaces, Jauregui hopes to bypass social media algorithms that she says have censored her activism and voice in the past. Jauregui has been vocal about the liberation of Palestinians and frequently speaks up about human rights issues on her platform.
“Social media is controlled by a select group of people. I’ve been shadow-banned so many times for exercising my freedom of speech and speaking on things happening in the world, always with a focus on protecting human rights,” she says. “I have a need to amplify voices that exist and advocate for them… I feel like the narrative is getting more and more censored, especially in the United States.”
Jauregui says her own social media feeds have been filled with far-right propaganda, even if it’s not content that she engages with. She says it’s built to make the internet and world more divided. “There is, I believe, a stronger agenda to make us as siloed individually as possible so that we don’t connect with one another anymore. And so I really wanted to create a space outside of that where I can connect with my fans,” she says.
Specifically with EVEN, Jauregui reflects on how the music model has become so consumption-based without real appreciation for songwriters and artists. “Our industry doesn’t move to protect us — it moves to exploit us,” she says. “Having EVEN allows people to buy art directly from the artist before it gets exploited elsewhere.”
This interview also comes just weeks after her shocking Dancing With the Stars elimination. While fans were frustrated to see her go so early in the season, others unfamiliar with her mistook her confidence for cockiness — especially after a clip of her saying she was “pissed” went viral. “The viewers that felt a certain way wanted to misunderstand me,” Jauregui says.
“At the end of the day, I am who the fuck I am. I am constantly evolving. I’m constantly becoming. But for the most part, I am grounded in my truth, and my confidence comes from a place of practice — from showing up every time I’m required to be my best self in front of a camera,” Jauregui says. “Most people are looking to make you a meme, to humiliate you, to put you in a position where your vulnerability is cringe. It’s like I either show up as the baddest bitch I can be, or you bitches are going to make fun of me.”
She adds: “At the end of the day, why wouldn’t I want to be my best self? Why wouldn’t I put my best self forward? Why wouldn’t I be focused and intentional? That’s just who I am. And if that don’t resonate, it don’t resonate. I’m over the giving-a-fuck phase.”
Jauregui says being on the show gave people a chance to see her real personality and connect with her identity — and though “everything is made about Fifth Harmony, which is valid,” she was able to shine on her own. “I also got to show my own talent,” she says.
When it comes to reuniting with Fifth Harmony — both on Dancing With the Stars and at the Jonas Brothers’ show in August — Jauregui says she has nothing but love for her former bandmates, though she keeps quiet on whether more is in store. For now, she’s focused on getting her solo career into full gear.
“It was amazing to connect with the girls. I have a lot of respect and love for what we did together, and any chance to do something together is an honor,” she says. “I’m grateful to be a part of it whenever I get a call.”
