Among the many present crop of foremost pop women, Camila Cabello could possibly be essentially the most underestimated. Sure, she has a few hits so ubiquitous they’ve handed two billion streams on Spotify: 2017’s sultry ‘Havana’ that includes Younger Thug and 2019’s steamy ‘Señorita’ with Shawn Mendes. And sure, every of her high-charting albums is a completely realised physique of labor: 2022’s glorious ‘Familia’ noticed Cabello discover her Cuban-Mexican roots with hints of emo anguish.
However when Cabello launched her newest period with social content material presenting herself as a chaotic occasion lady, some pop stans reacted with suspicion. “There are feedback I see which can be like, ‘She so needs to be that lady. She is going to by no means be that lady,’” Cabello informed Paper in March. She was additionally accused of copying Charli XCX with this album’s lead single ‘I Luv It’, a honking hyperpop banger which does bear a sure resemblance to Charli’s 2017 track ‘I Received It’. Cabello responded bullishly, telling Paper: “Charli loves me, so all people can fuck off.”
Neither ‘I Luv It’ nor follow-up single ‘He Is aware of’, a clattering collab with Lil Nas X, fairly signposts the general vibe of Cabello’s fourth album. Largely co-written with producers El Guincho (Rosalía, FKA twigs) and Jasper Harris (Tate McRae, Doja Cat), ‘C,XOXO’ is a laconic, off-kilter pop document full of closely Auto-Tuned vocals impressed by T-Ache. It’s a brand new sound for Cabello that heightens the music’s intriguing, trippy sheen.
All through, her lyrics pivot between pithy and revealing. When Cabello manufacturers herself a “cute lady with a sick thoughts” on ‘Chanel No.5’, it looks like a craven try to generate a meme. The balmy, guitar-led ‘Twentysomethings’ cuts deeper as Cabello captures the way in which we use huge nights out to resolve – or no less than distract from – relationship issues. “I simply wanna have a very good night time, struggling all my life,” she sings forlornly. “Need you to carry me tight and inform me that we’re alright.”
The album’s barely scrappy high quality sounds deliberate: the spacey PinkPantheress collaboration ‘PinkXOXO’ lasts, appropriately, all of 55 seconds. However there are additionally loads of intriguing rap-influenced pop cuts. ‘June Gloom’ sounds a bit like Lana Del Rey doing hyperpop; ‘Dream-Women’ celebrates feminine friendship over a dayglo reggaeton beat and ‘Dade County Dreaming’ is blippy hip-hop that includes influential Miami duo Metropolis Women.
There’s one other nod to Cabello’s hometown on ‘B.O.A.T.’, an emo breakup track that includes an incongruous/ingenious pattern from Pitbull’s 2009 occasion anthem ‘Resort Room Service’. As Cabello sings about an ex who was “the perfect of all time”, the track’s giddy synth riff – itself a pattern from Nightcrawlers’ 1992 home basic ‘Push The Feeling On’ – provides a haunting reminder of happier occasions.
Solely two mid-album Drake collaborations evince a slight blip in confidence. The hypnotic dancehall of ‘Scorching Uptown’ belongs on a unique album and following monitor ‘Uuugly’ is an odd two-minute coda on which Drizzy sings however Cabello solely options briefly. It’s virtually as if she’s outsourced a portion of the album to a different, much more bankable artist.
Cabello defined this unusual artistic selection when she informed Billboard: “I simply need to hear Drake by myself album. I like that for me – it’s like that rebellious temper. Who says I can’t do this?” Nobody, evidently, however the timing feels off. Given the collective eye roll that greeted the rap titan’s drained 2023 album ‘For All The Canines’ and the reputational harm attributable to his ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar, this “rebellious temper” brings the improper sort of chaotic vitality to Cabello’s mission.
Nonetheless, whether or not you suppose Cabello is “that lady” or not, there’s no denying that ‘C,XOXO’ is filled with quirky earworms: she even blends emo and reggaeton on the sensible, melancholy membership banger ‘Fairly Once I Cry’. A few of 2024’s most anticipated pop albums have sunk fairly quick after hyped roll-outs; this one deserves to maintain effervescent to the floor for months to return.
Particulars
- Launch date: June 28, 2024
- Document label: Geffen/Interscope
