Power of 3

SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT WARNING: Love Island USA 6, Love Island UK 12, Building the Band

Over the last two summers, our media diet was largely captured by the lure of Love Island. Last year, we binged nearly all of US Season 6 in 1 week. This year, we dutifully watched US Season 7 nightly – and when that train wreck ended, the only logical next step was to catch up on UK Season 12 so we could satisfy our need for a Movie Night. If you add that all up, that's 107 hours of our lives we can't get back. Nor would I want to. I've loved participating in what I believe is one of the last bastions of a monoculture in our world today. It also turned out to be a pleasantly surprising celebration of female friendships. In particular, the friendship within a group of 3 women. Connecting the very loose threads of the mythological Fates to these recent examples of Love Island trifectas carrying their couples into the top three, it's clear that culture has had an undeniable fascination with this structure. Is this the product of real chemistry, or just some savvy reality TV producers...whatever it is: I'm loving it, bada ba ba ba (to the McDonald's jingle).

Out of these 3 Love Island seasons, Love Island US Season 7 was the clearest loser in terms of general sentiment. This is likely due to a lot of different reasons (suddenly disappearing cast members based on past problematic socials, the way to obvious attempts to recreate the magic of Season 6, etc.), but to make this fit my narrative: they also did not have a break out woman threesome built on genuine chemistry! US Season 6 had Serena, Leah, JaNa (aptly self-named after another iconic trio, Power Puff Girls), and UK season 12 was dominated by Toni, Shakira, and Yasmin. In the face of this hellscape dressed as a vacation "villa", these trios trauma bonded over failed relationships, and we, the US and UK public, rewarded them by placing them first, second, and third in both seasons. Now that can't be a coincidence, right?

3Quency, of Building the Band fame, is yet another recent example that has really hit this idea home for me. Following in the footsteps of Destiny's Child, TLC, The Supremes, they seemed to crack the code and, very appropriately, built the winning band (group? I'm assuming Building the Group just didn't roll off the tongue). It's notable that Nori very resolutely stood behind this idea of a 3 woman group, and I strongly believe that that decision was one that made them as strong as they were. But again, what is it that makes these groups of 3 so appealing? We've certainly seen that groups of 3 don't always succeed, in fact, another trio from Building the Band called Sweet Seduction was a clear example of this. So though forming a group of 3 can be a solid foundation, it certainly isn't the golden ticket to success.

When looking at these recent examples – Serena/Leah/JaNa, Toni/Shakira/Yasmin, 3Quency – I can think of a few commonalities:

• Distinct, yet complimentary personality traits (+talents) that the audience can identify with at different times
• Supportive shows in the face of vulnerability, which allows the audience a glimmer into their inner circle
• Diversity: creating the widest baseline of fans from the start and a pleasant gradient of representation

Maybe it's that having three components gives you just enough to work with to genuinely demonstrate these qualities. Whatever it is, I'm here for celebrating the dominance of women friendship, especially in the world of reality TV. So enough musing, let's just watch some 3Quency performances: