‘Little Women: Atlanta’ Stars Bri Barlup and Emily Fernandez Talk ‘The Cheeks’ Shocking Season 5 Return

The Cheeks are back in Atlanta in pursuit of a new opportunity in their music careers, but their return isn’t going over quite so smoothly with the other Little Women: Atlanta stars.

Prior to the Thursday, March 28 premiere of the Lifetime reality show’s Season 5, Bri Barlup (a.k.a Leftcheek) and Emily Fernandez (a.k.a. Rightcheek) opened up to PopCulture.com about their dramatic return from Dallas.

“It was a little awkward at first, but we know this is where we need to be if we really want to move forward in our music careers,” Bri teased of her return to the group, adding she was hopeful at the start everyone could “put their issues in the past” so they could “move the hell on!”

Emily added that she wasn’t super concerned about what the other women thought of The Cheeks’ return, saying that they were able to spend enough time apart to “deal with it for now.”

“But, we for sure got some looks when we showed up in Atlanta and they found out we were back,” she told PopCulture.com. “Surprise, ladies!”

While there’s plenty of drama to be had over the season, Bri said the rap duo tried not “waste a lot of time fighting if we can help it,” even when the two were paired with Tiny Twinz Amanda and Andrea Salinas for a collaboration album, despite their history.

Bri told PopCulture.com going into working together, everyone was “a little nervous” about their past, despite the partnership being one she thought was a good idea.

“But, again — getting over our issues was somewhat challenging,” she added. “We really had to take a step back and understand what would be the best move for all of us if we wanted to be successful with our music.”

Emily, on the other hand, “wasn’t exactly excited to team up with anyone when it comes to our music,” wanting to ride or die with the original Cheeks.

“Our conversations with the Twinz don’t always go so well, so we definitely try to avoid those situations at all costs,” she added.

The four women will have to come together in a major way to prove themselves to the Street Execs label, however, which expressed doubt about producing an album recorded by little people. It’s a shocking moment to watch play out, but Bri admitted it unfortunately wasn’t surprising in her history with the industry.

“All of our lives we’ve had to deal with people judging us because we are LP,” Bri told PopCulture.com. “It just means we have to work extra hard to prove ourselves and we are always ready to do that. It just takes a little extra work and a ton of perseverance. We really struggled to convince Street Execs to give us a chance.”

Emily echoed, “I wasn’t surprised they were questioning our capabilities — everyone does. It’s not right, but at this point we’re used to it. We just had to take charge when it came to Street Execs and show them that we can throw down when it comes to our music and performing. Don’t ever question The Cheeks and what we can do.”

Little Women: Atlanta (produced by Kinetic Content) returns to Lifetime for Season 5 on Thursday, March 28 at 9 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: Prince Williams/WireImage