Camila Cabello - "C,XOXO"

From Latin flavor to poor taste

Camila Cabello got her start a little over a decade ago as a member of the up-and-coming girl group Fifth Harmony. She released two albums with them before splitting to go solo in 2016.¹ Cabello’s debut solo album would arrive in 2018, preceded by the notable lead single “Havana” — if you are looking for a Cabello song you might have heard before, it’s that one.

Cabello’s signature is Latin- and R&B-infused Pop, a sound which she honed quickly and to great success. Her 2022 release, Familia, was one of my toughest Teal bucket decisions; it was ultimately dropped to a Green, but probably would have made Top 50 if I ranked that far out. Several songs from that album stay in my regular rotation.

So it’s safe to say that I had this album flagged as, potentially, one of the more exciting Pop releases on the schedule.

Well, disappointment comes in many flavors, and perhaps that includes the blue sucker on the album cover.

Before I delve into details, I want to caveat a bit — I feel like this album has a specific audience in mind. As Cabello herself put it, the album has “Miami baddie energy”. There are several songs referencing the city and its party scene. It’s also geared towards an age-limited nostalgia, as many of the songs kick it back to 2000s-era Pop, R&B, and Hip-Hop. “Dream Girls” does it pretty blatantly, specifically calling out and interpolating The Dream’s “Shawty is a Ten”.

If that specific time period and the city of Miami both resonate with you, then you might like this album a lot more than I did.

“A lot more” could just mean “it’s okay”, though.

I have to start with the change in sound, naturally. It’s ironic that an album which deals so much with Miami would dial back the Latin influences so much. They’re not gone, but they also take a backseat to other influences and stylistic choices. There’s still plenty of R&B stylings, but also more Hip-Hop, Dance, and even Hyperpop elements.² And there’s a lot of autotune.

Opening track (and lead single) “I Luv It” is reasonably decent — clearly not what I was looking for, but I don’t hate it. But then it’s immediately followed by “Chanel No.5”, which feels about as natural and organic as product placement in movies.

Also, the song starts with a brief vocal, then —STOPS— long enough to make you think it’s already moving to the next track…did I accidentally skip to the next song? And at about that time,³ it resumes with this discordant, distorted piano, which recurs throughout the song, and it sounds awful. And it’s even more infuriating because the vocal melody is actually pretty nice. But between the absurdly capitalistic lyrics and the cringe-inducing piano, the song is really unlistenable. Even if it’s short, at only 2:40.

In fact, the next song, “He Knows”, which features Lil Nas X, is the longest track on the album at 3:01. This is genuinely a pretty good song, largely due to LNX bringing it up.

The next remarkable element of the album comes with tracks 8 & 9, which feature Drake. “Hot Uptown” actually isn’t bad, despite Drake’s awful attempt to emulate a Jamaican Patois. It’s upbeat and catchy, dancy and flirty. But then it’s immediately followed by “Uuugly”, a downbeat track with only Drake performing, in which his character from the previous song seems to be accusing Cabello of cheating.

Nothing to bridge the jump, and no way to tell how much time has passed. But more importantly…

She doesn’t get a response.

It’s extremely awkward. Especially in light of the long-simmering feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar which erupted earlier this year, given the allegations launched in Drake’s direction.⁴

But first and foremost, this is Cabello’s album. But Drake⁵ gets his own two-minute track and in the process gets the final word on this mid-album two-song suite. It just sets all the wrong tones.

On the other hand, if a third song was added directly after Drake’s bit with Camila’s character responding, I’d be praising the whole thing. Pop doesn’t do suites. It’s a novelty here, but it’s also awfully executed. It should have been teased out; it should have been the entire album at a conceptual level.

Alas.

The album finishes with some more decent songs. “Pretty When I Cry” and “June Gloom” are two of the best. But overall, the album is mostly forgettable-at-best.

Rating: Red

1. Fifth Harmony released a third album in 2017 before going on an indefinite hiatus.

2. I’ll admit that I didn’t think about that last one myself, but I saw it mentioned in my research and NO IT TOTALLY FITS.

3. I have to underscore that I have heard this song at least three times now, and this is my thought process every time.

4. Versatone does not even pretend to be neutral. This is a Team Kendrick publication. Drake is kinda shitty.

5. Even if we flip the script a bit and have Kendrick Lamar doing that bit, the core issue is still there.