Becoming a solo artist has been an incredible new chapter of my life. After Fifth Harmony, I felt a mix of so many emotions—but most of all, I felt excited about what was to come next. For the first time in my career, I feel like I genuinely have the power to collaborate with who I want, and I’m contributing ideas to a strong, healthy team. To finally be in control is so important to me because this is my career. These are the songs my voice will be heard through.

One of the most exciting moments in this chapter happened after my team came to me in early September with the idea of hosting an all-female writing camp. I had been recording for most of the summer in a very male-dominated industry, so being able to switch gears and get a bunch of women together sounded amazing. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve always felt respected by the male songwriters and producers I’ve worked with, and we’ve had a blast together. But there’s nothing quite like the female energy, is there?

So we set up a two-day camp at Glenwood Studios later that month with about 15 talented and diverse female engineers, producers, and songwriters. Everyone had different backgrounds, stories, and credits to their name, but we all arrived with the same intentions: to uplift each other, to make our community stronger, and to highlight how beautiful it is for women to band together.

I hadn’t worked with anyone in the camp before, so we started by going around the room over lunch and introducing ourselves. We spoke about why we got into music, and I was moved by everyone’s stories. One of the engineers revealed that she’s a professional tango dancer; another producer talked about how she almost went into accounting. When my time came to speak, I opened up about how much I had learned during my time in Fifth Harmony—and all the experiences I wanted to talk about now that I’m on my own.

After we finished introductions, everyone split into two rooms. I went into Studio B first and recorded the most vulnerable record I’ve ever done. There were six of us in the room starting completely from scratch, but one of the producers picked up a guitar, played a chord, and the song just took off from there. We were sharing our raw emotions with each other, and it felt like we were all connected. It was empowering to be in that space, to be surrounded by women actually embracing and lifting each other up. There were no egos, no hidden agendas, nobody wanting to take all the credit. It was so powerful to be in a session where I felt I could be myself. I felt safe enough to be vulnerable.

The song came out beautifully, and I’m so proud to have cowritten it. It’s self-reflective, inspired by the honest emotions that we all share as women. I can’t wait to share it.

This is why I think it’s imperative that women support other women. We’re such powerful beings. We love hard. We possess so much feeling inside of us. We work hard and chase our dreams. Imagine what we can achieve when we come together. There are so many women—not just in my industry—who need our help and our voices. We should be friends to one another, and it breaks my heart when we aren’t kind to our own. I’ve experienced it, and it’s terrible. It cuts you deep. Working with the amazing women at the writing camp reminded me that we’re all unique and have something incredible to offer. When we come together, we can change the world.

Brooke is currently working on her debut solo album for Atlantic records.

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