I always find it interesting how people say the group members were irrelevant and that she didn't need them, etc. Of course she COULD have came out solo. If she did, I think it would've been a bit more challenging and taken her a bit longer to get to where she is now.
Her vocal techniques weren't as polished and her stage prescence had a few kinks. Basically, there was room to improve. The competition was also much more fierce. Several mononym female artists already existed and were at their peaks.
But yeah, she was gonna be a star regardless, and having a revolving door of several disposable D.U.F.F."group members" to shit on for a few years surely helped.