For those of you who watched the Video Music Awards, then one particular performance must have jumped out at you.

Fifth Harmony performed a medley of two of their newest songs, “Angel" and “Down." Right before they performed, there were five members on stage, and then one member jumped off the stage. Twitter broke down with users saying that it was shade towards their member who left the band almost 9 months ago, back in December 2016, tweeting comments about how “it was unnecessary," and how “the girls need to move on."

However, what most people don’t understand is the whole story. These four talented women from Fifth Harmony have been going through hell and back with the amount of hate they received after losing one member. They’ve stayed quiet about the situation, blacklisted questions to avoid drama, and have yet to say one horrible thing about the former member. The general public mentioned that Fifth Harmony bullied this member into quitting and drove her out of the group. This has been the rumor since the member left. Trolls have been constantly saying that “Fifth Harmony is over," and that they’re going to disband.

However, the performance wasn’t shady or unnecessary in any way. Fifth Harmony has been very quiet about what happened with their ex-member, and they have stated their peace in the situation. They constantly receive hate, and they have decided to put their foot down and stand up for themselves.

For those of you who did not understand the performance, Fifth Harmony started off as a five-member group. The performance started off with five members and then one jumped, depicting how one decided to leave the group to pursue her career. The “dummy" who jumped off the stage was symbolic, showing that the ex-member CHOSE to leave the group. Then, you have the four remaining members falling all at once, meaning that they jumped off TOGETHER, as a group, with no one catching them. Then, you see the girls in a box, meaning that they were trapped with their record label and had no freedom. They broke out of the box to show that they are now in control of their careers and now have freedom. Next, the members dropping their mics and having the rain pour down on them is symbolic because it’s showing the world that, although they lost a member, they are still here and that this is the NEW Fifth Harmony.

So was this really shade to their ex-member? It wasn’t. The girls were tired of the backlash and decided that enough was enough. They decided to put their foot down and tell their side of the story, which they did. The performance showed that this is their story, that this is the new Fifth Harmony, and despite losing a member, they are still pursuing their careers together.

Sometimes, enough is enough. One person can only handle so much before they break. Fifth Harmony has been quiet about the situation for months, and they have finally decided to show people what happened. Their telling of the side of the story is influential because it teaches others that it’s okay to put your foot down. It’s okay to speak up and tell your side of the story. It’s okay to say that enough is enough and that you just want everyone to finally move on.