OMG Girlz Are Reclaiming Their Impact As Grown Women
R&B girl groups have always been a hot commodity in the music industry. Following the leads of En Vogue, Xscape, TLC and Destiny’s Child came a plethora of millennial groups like Fifth Harmony, 3LW, The Pussycat Dolls and Danity Kane. This class also included a group guided by Tameka “Tiny” Harris: OMG Girlz. While the trio pays homage to earlier greats, they’ve also affirmed the impact they’ve made on their own generation.
“TLC was a big one for us,” Beauty said. “We absolutely love TLC and their dynamic is definitely similar to ours.”
The original “Officially Miss Guided” quintet included sisters Bahja “Beauty” and Lourdes “Lolo” Rodriguez, Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack, Lil Wayne’s daughter, Reginae “Baby Carter” Carter, and Tiny’s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins. After separating into a trio, the preteens signed their first deal with Interscope/Streamline Records alongside T.I. and Tiny’s labels Pretty Hustle/Grand Hustle in 2011. The group released their debut single “Gucci This (Gucci That)” a year later.
Stepping into their rockstar-style identity (defined by their respective favorite colors: pink, blue and purple), their debut track peaked at No. 59 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. Though rappers like Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj both sported colorful tresses during the course of their careers, Beauty expressed that she didn’t see too many girls her age “wearing bright colored hair and doing what they wanted to do.”
“When we came together and we started with the color, a lot of people didn’t understand it,” she elaborated on OMG’s impact. “A lot of people kind of were like, ‘Oh, that’s ghetto, that’s ratchet. Why are y’all doing that?’ And now we’re in a time where grown women, little girls, anybody can wear colored hair, bright colors. If they want to do glitter shoes and tutus or whatever, they can. And I just kind of feel like that just shows the impact.”
“We’re not saying that we own it, but at the end of the day, Black girls was not wearing colored hair and tutus and all that stuff before we came out. It’s just a fact.”
After their second single in 2012, “Where the Boys At?,” the group stopped recording together to focus on their own lives and projects before announcing their disbandment in 2015. Since then, Star has released solo music and become a mom, Bahja has also put out solo projects, and Breaunna has been working on her own music.
Following a recent copyright lawsuit against the popular MGA Entertainment toy L.O.L Dolls, the OMG Girlz are back and ready to finish what they started. After releasing an updated version of their 2011 track “Lover Boy,” the 20-somethings chatted with VIBE about rebranding themselves as grown women.
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VIBE: How’s life been for you all since being in the thick of the OMG Girlz’s run?
Beauty (Bahja): I can only speak for myself, but it’s been pretty cool. I love music. Music is just such a big part of my life. I’m still doing my solo music now, but it’s been pretty good. Still just been working, still been doing music, and we’re obviously still friends. But it’s been good though.
Babydoll (Breaunna): Same here. Yeah, it’s been great. Life has been really good. It’s even better now we’ve got “Lover Boy” out, so it’s going really good. Yeah.
Star (Zonnique): I would say life has definitely been going. Everybody has been doing their own thing in the midst of OMG, doing our separation time. I became a mother. So yeah.
How’s the baby, by the way?
Star: She’s good. Thank you for asking.
I’m so happy to hear that. Individually, you all have put out music since disbanding. Why choose now to reunite?
Beauty: Well, I think the first time that we started to talk about it was actually in January, when we had a common interest with this corporation [MGA Entertainment] that was stealing our image and our likeness. So at the time we were just really being downplayed by this company and we felt like, let’s come back and let’s show them how big of an impact we really can make just on the industry, even with us not putting anything out for a while.
It’s something that we always wanted to do. We always had an idea that we were going to come back together at some point and do something. I just think we were trying to really plan that out, but I feel like now is the perfect time. It feels right.
Anyone else have a different reason?
Star: I was going to say … yeah, she ate that (laughs).
We’ve followed what happened with the lawsuit and we’ve seen the impact you’ve had on your fans. Can you each speak to the influence of the OMG Girlz?
Babydoll: Our brand being pink, purple and blue and also being very daring is still very prominent to this day. We’re really trendsetters and grateful to be able to say that. Not only with our hair and our outfits … our music as well.
Star: Being OMG Girlz in the beginning, I think we knew we had such a big impact, with just our fans and how they came to our shows and things of that sort. But I think especially after, we still saw how much of an impact we had on young girls and still to this day.
As I’m looking at all three of you and I see the signature colors represented, who you are when you’re not on stage or recording as the OMG Girlz?
Beauty: I feel like even when we’re on stage, when we’re off-stage, I don’t think we really ever turn it off. I think it’s just such a big part of who we are as people. Literally, my favorite color’s pink. I think our onstage personas really kind of match up with who we are off of stage as well.
Babydoll: Like she said, it’s still us, but just more enhanced and more free. But Babydoll and myself are animated … fun. Very high energy is what I give, but that’s how I am too off [stage], very goofy and stuff like that.
Star: Even when you watch us on stage, everybody is pretty close to how we are. When I dance, it’s very much chill and cute and same with everybody. It’s very close to how we are in real life. I feel like we grew up being OMG Girlz, so it was always coincided with just exactly who we are.
How would you describe the OMG Girlz’s comeback?
Beauty: I feel like we’ve actually had more life experience. Last time people saw us, we were 18, 19, and now we’re like 27, 28 … closer to 30. People can expect to hear more about our life experiences and just what we’ve been through; whether it’s with love, life, business, or with friends. I think people can definitely expect to hear a more mature version of us. We’re still going to obviously stay true to our roots and what made people fall in love with us, but we really want people to get to know us as grown women and just understand what we’ve been going through, since they haven’t really heard from us as a unit.
And as far as the signature colors of pink, purple and blue? Does OMG ever think of not doing that anymore?
Babydoll: Time will tell, but I feel like it’ll stick because of how we do it and how we even incorporated it. We have different variations of it to where we can play with it and it’s timeless. It’s our brand. It’s OMG. It’s really a part of us. I think it’s definitely going to stay, but we’ll switch it up.
Let’s talk about your new (but old) song “Lover Boy.” This is the song that actually came out years ago, right?
Babydoll: It leaked. But we performed it on tours and stuff like that.
How does it feel to officially release the song over a decade later?
Beauty: With ‘Lover Boy,’ this was something that the fans, they just never gave up on this record. We have so many songs that people have heard little snippets that have dropped and everything, and this was one that they were consistently like, ‘We need this song.’ I think now it was just the perfect time to drop it, especially because we obviously had an invested interest going on, I think it just felt right. It just felt like, ‘why not do this? Why not put this out for the fans and get back on the road together and just have fun really?’
Even though you’re going to be putting out music together, are each of you still going to drop individual music?
Star: Yeah, that’s definitely going to be a thing. So you’re going to be getting a lot of stuff coming from us.
Beauty: Yeah, a lot of music.
Could fans possibly see a reunion of all five original members including Reginae and Lourdes?
Beauty: You know what, funny enough, I don’t think they would be opposed to it actually. We just have never talked about it, but I don’t think they would be opposed to it. That’s a good idea.
I’m sure the fans would love to see that. Maybe even just for one performance. But what does OMG have in store for us? What can we expect?
Star: Definitely expect a music video for ‘Lover Boy,’ first and foremost, and more music to come. We’ll definitely be looking to do some shows so that way we can see our fans in person and meet-and-greets and those types of things. And then also on top of that, when it comes to music, merchandise and that stuff will come into play.
Beauty: The sky is the limit.
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