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G.R.L Release New Single, Open Up On Simone Battle's Death

Girl group members speak out for first time since tragedy...

The remaining four members of girl group G.R.L have spoken out for the first time since bandmate Simone Battle took her own life last year.

Lauren Bennett, Paula Van Oppen, Natasha Slayton and Emmalyn Estrada are releasing a new single called Lighthouse - which they are dedicating to Simone's memory.

And they've told The Sun how the tragic news blew their world apart, with Lauren saying: "This is the first time we've spoken about this outside the four of us so you'll have to bear with us.

[related]"We woke up in the morning like any other day, expecting to go to rehearsals with Simone like we did the day before.

"We had to learn our choreography for a show we had coming up. Then we got a phone call. For me, that was the most shocking call I've ever had in my life."

And Emmalyn added: "It was like a bomb went off. It felt like everything in our lives had changed.

"I had never been through anything like this before. It's only now, months later, that we've started to pick up the pieces of our lives."

And Paula stressed that the decision to carry on had by no means been an easy one.

"We weren't able to rush this decision. All we could think about was losing our best friend and wrapping our heads around the fact we don't get to see her any more.

"As these few months have passed, it's been a bit easier to look at what we're going to do moving forward.

"But it's definitely still something we're dealing with today and it's really hard."

And Lauren said that Simone's love for the group had inspired them to continue.

"There’s not really any 'right' way to deal with this, to be honest," she began.

"We know she loved music and this group, which is one of the reasons we wanted to move forward.

"Some people might have another opinion about it but as a group we've decided this is the best thing to do.

"We've been in touch with Simone's mum. I've personally spoken to her a lot through this. We have her support for the band to move forward — she says she wants the best for us four girls."

Lighthouse is available now as a download.

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