-G.R.L.

 is an American-British-Canadian girl group formed by Robin Antin. The group consists of

members Lauren Bennett, Natasha Slayton, and Emmalyn Estrada. Past members included Jazzy
Mejia and original members Simone Battle and Paula van Oppen.
The original line-up consisted of Slayton, Bennett, Estrada, Van Oppen, and Simone Battle. They
made their debut appearance on the Smurfs 2 soundtrack with "Vacation". They would go on to
appear on Pitbull's internationally successful track "Wild Wild Love", which peaked in the top 40 in
the United States and top 10 in the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum by Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA). Their second single "Ugly Heart" gained international
success shortly after the suicide of member Simone Battle. Leaving the group as a quartet, this
inspired the group to release their next single "Lighthouse" in memory of Battle. The group
disbanded shortly after its release, on June 2, 2015.
G.R.L. officially reformed on August 5, 2016, with the addition of new member Jazzy Mejia alongside
Bennett and Slayton.
G.R.L. announced in their Instagram page that they are back with new music in 2021, with Emmalyn
Estrada coming back to the group alongside original members Bennett and Slayton, making the
group a trio.

2011–2012: Background and line-up changes[edit]

In March 2011, Antin began holding auditions to find new girls to replace the departed members
of The Pussycat Dolls.[1] The new line-up made their debut on February 5, 2012, during the Super
Bowl, as part of GoDaddy's annual TV commercials, appearing with Danica Patrick. "The look of the
commercial is not necessarily the new look of the group this time around," said Robin Antin, adding,
"It's breathtakingly beautiful. It's a fun, real-campy kind of sexy. It's all of that, but again, what we're
doing for this next life of the Pussycat Dolls, the girls are all young. It's a fresh, young energy."[2] An
official picture taken from the ad showed five members: Lauren Bennett, Paula van Oppen, Vanessa
Curry, Chrystina Sayers, and Erica Kiehl Jenkins.[3][4]
On April 13, 2012, it was announced that Chrystina Sayers was no longer a part of the new line-up.
[5]
 In July 2012, the line-up was announced consisting of Bennett and Van Oppen, with new
members Natalie Mejia, Amanda Branche, and Natasha Slayton, thus confirming Jenkins and
Curry's withdrawal from the group.[6] In August 2012, publicity photos showed the 'new' line-up
including Simone Battle (from Season one of The X Factor USA) replacing Branche.[7] In November
2012, it was revealed, through the hiring of Emmalyn Estrada, that Mejia was no longer part of the
group, thus creating the official lineup of G.R.L.[8] Mejia announced that she was expecting her first
child with her husband, and due to her situation she made a choice to not continue with the group.[9]

2013–2014: Mainstream success, G.R.L. and Battle's death[edit]

"There's different flavors in here. There are other girl groups that share the lead, but we also share the lead as well as being very
individual. We all have our own thing going on. We took out the 'I' -- it's basically short for girl, [but] we give it a new meaning.
A girl isn't just a young female, it's a strong minded and a strong willed individual. It really represents the bond that we have
because we're all strong individuals and we come together and unite as one girl."
— G.R.L, on being transcendent of the typical girl group.[10]

In February 2013, Antin officially announced that the girls will be making their debut as a brand-new
group with a different name instead of replacing the departed members of the Pussycat Dolls.[11] The
group was officially unveiled at Chateau Marmont in April.[11] On June 16, the group released their
debut single, "Vacation", which was included on the soundtrack for the animated movie The Smurfs
2 as a B-side to Britney Spears' "Ooh La La".[12] The song made its official debut on a national chart
on the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number ninety-seven.[13] On September 10, 2013 in
Brooklyn, New York, the group began a monthlong promotional tour partnered
with Claire's and Westfield Malls meeting fans, visiting radio stations, and performing at select
locations.[14] The group's collaboration with rapper Pitbull on the lead single, "Wild Wild Love" off his
album Globalization, became successful internationally.[15] The single peaked at number thirty on
the Billboard Hot 100 chart, selling 767,000 copies in the U.S. as of March 2015.[15] The song made
the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Indonesia, Norway, United Kingdom, including certified platinum in
Australia and Canada.[16]
Not long after their formation they announced they had begun recording for their debut studio album,
with songwriters and record producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Cirkut, Darkchild, and Lukas Hilbert.
[17]
 However, the album was scrapped in favor of a self-titled EP instead. The lead single off the EP,
"Ugly Heart", debuted in the ARIA Singles Chart at forty-one, before peaking in the top ten at
number 2, becoming the group's most successful single to date, being certified 4× platinum
by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[18][19] The song peaked at number ten on The
Australian 2014 Year End charts, certifying platinum.[20] The track reached a peak position of number
3 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.[21]
On September 5, 2014, Battle was found dead in her West Hollywood home.[22][23] Los Angeles
County Coroner's Lieutenant Fred Corral ruled the death a suicide, following an autopsy.[24] The next
day, the group released a statement via Twitter, saying, "Words cannot express the depth of our
loss. Simone's incredible talent was only surpassed by the size of her heart."[25] In a following tweet,
they said "We will carry her memory with us in everything we do."[26]

2015: Lighthouse, G.R.L. Gives an Hour and hiatus[edit]

The group released their first single since Battle's death, "Lighthouse".[27] Along with the single, the
group announced a new campaign with Give an Hour called G.R.L. Gives an Hour, which was
dedicated to raise awareness about mental health issues in America.[28] G.R.L. Gives an Hour later
became an associate campaign of Michelle Obama's Change Direction.[29] "Lighthouse" peaked at
number thirty on the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia, number eighteen on the New Zealand singles
chart, number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, number 35 on the sales-only based version of the chart
and at number 24 on the Scottish Singles Chart.[30][31][32][33]
On March 10, 2015, it was revealed by the band during their performance on Australian breakfast
television program Sunrise while in Hawaii that they would be the opening act for Meghan Trainor on
the Australian leg of her That Bass Tour where they performed on April 27 and April 30.[34]
The group officially disbanded on 2 June 2015 through a joint statement from RCA
Records, Kemosabe Records, Larry Rudolph, and Robin Antin, stating "Nearly 9 months following
the tragic death of band member Simone Battle, girl group G.R.L. announces today that they are
disbanding. We wish them continued success in each of their next creative endeavors."[35][36][37]

2016–2020: Reformation[edit]
In June 2016, the group's new rep, Matt Wynter, stated that the girls are back via Loco Talent's
website.[38] G.R.L.'s new single is expected to be released in the summer.[39]
On August 5, 2016, it was announced that Jazzy Mejia was added as the third member of G.R.L.
alongside Bennett and Slayton, making the group officially a trio.[40] The newly reformed G.R.L.
headlined the Australian music festival Nickelodeon Slimefest in September 2016.[41]
On August 28, 2016, the trio released their first promotional single together, "Kiss Myself".[42] The
single "Are We Good" was released on December 9, with a music video released on January 26,
2017.
In May 2018, Jazzy Mejia confirmed on Twitter that G.R.L. would be going on tour.[43] Dates were
announced for February 2019 in Australia alongside S Club 3, Big Brovaz and 5ive,[44] but it was later
confirmed that G.R.L. would not be performing on the tour. They stated on Twitter that they hope to
tour soon.
In 2020, Mejia's withdrawal from the group was announced.
2020–present: Emmalyn's return and new music[edit]
On September 2020 member Natasha Slayton posted a video of herself, Lauren Bennett and former
members Emmalyn Estrada and Paula van Oppen dancing to a song alongside the founder of the
group, Robin Antin, on her Instagram stories. Since then, fans started speculating that the group was
reforming alongside member Jazzy Mejia. Later in October of the same year, Slayton, Estrada and
van Oppen started posting TikTok videos with each other, making the rumors of the group reforming
increase. By November 2020, posts from the group's Instagram and Twitter accounts during the time
Mejia was a member of the group were unexpectedly deleted, a new profile picture with the group's
logo was added. During the same month, a TikTok account by the group's name was made, posting
clips from the music videos by the original lineup of the group.
In December 10, 2020, a few clips and pictures from what seemed to look like the set from the
group's next music video were posted by Bennett, Estrada and Slayton. The fans immediately
noticed the absence of van Oppen. Later that day, the group's manager, Matt Ziedman, announced
that van Oppen had decided not to rejoin the group.[45] van Oppen also explained why she decided
not to reform with the rest of the group on an Instagram post.[46]
In January 2021, a few clips from what was rumored to be the group's next music video were posted
to the group's Instagram, TikTok and Twitter accounts, the clips in fact were the members dancing
and singing along to a medley of the group's singles. Later in the same month, the group did an
Instagram live alongside Antin and Ziedman confirming their return and future new music. They also
explained why Mejia was not invited to said return by saying that Estrada, van Oppen and
management were only interested in reforming the group's original lineup.
By April 2021, Ziedman, the group's manager, responded to a fan of the group on Twitter explaining
that he was not "involved" with the group's return anymore.[47]