Camila

## ***Camila***Studio album by Camila Cabello

### Producer(s)

Frank Dukes (also exec.), Jarami, Skrillex, T-Minus, Bart Schoudel, The Futuristics, SickDrumz, Jesse Shatkin

## Singles

1. "Havana"

2. "Never Be The Same"

3. "Consequences"

***Camila*** (previously titled *The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving.;* also referred to as *Never Be The Same*) is Camila Cabello's eponymous debut studio album, released on January 12, 2018. "Havana" featuring Young Thug was released as promotional on August 3, 2017 and announced as the lead single on August 30, and impacted radio on September 8, 2017.

Cabello worked with Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder and Pharrell Williams on the album. Williams co-produced "Havana" and Blanco co-wrote and produced "Crying In The Club". The album was completed and the track listing was decided on November 21.

It reached #1 in 98 countries the day of its release giving Cabello the record of most #1s in iTunes with a debut album. It has reached #1 in 104 countries so far.

*Camila* is primarily a pop record, with elements of Latin, reggaeton, R&B, dancehall and hip hop music. The album's lyrical content speaks on themes such as love and heartbreak, while songs such as "Havana" pay homage to her Cuban heritage.

## Background

### **Early recording**

Cabello originally planned out the title of the album to be *The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving.* She described it as a "story of my journey from darkness into light, from a time when I was lost to a time when I found myself again." She wrote "It was a kind of chapter you never want to read out loud." On June 24, 2017, Camila performed "OMG", "Havana" and "Never Be The Same" at the Pepsi Summerbash. Camila tweeted "making this album has been the best experience of my life. im so proud of it, i can't WAIT for u to hear" on July 7, 2017. In Musical.ly, Camila made a live stream where she revealed that she recorded a new song called "Must Be Love" which was one of the last ones she wrote. On July 20, 2017, Camila embarked on Bruno Mars's 24K Magic World Tour as an opening act and performed songs from the album including "Inside Out", "Crying In The Club", "OMG" among others.

Camila said that she has 12 songs that she loves and couldn't imagine not being on the album, whilst some thought this meant the album only had 12 tracks, she only meant that she loved 12 songs. On August 1, 2017, Camila posted a picture on Instagram announcing that "Havana" and "OMG" will be released. On the same day more later, Camila posted another picture this time announcing the collaborations with Quavo and Young Thug with the announce of "Inside Out".

### **Renaming**

On November 21, 2017, Camila announced that the album is done with Louis Bell and Frank Dukes deciding the tracklisting.

Around September 2017, Camila supposedly confirmed that the album theme would change, scrapping "Crying In The Club" with "Havana" replacing it as the lead single. In an interview Camila confirmed that the original title, *The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving.* is out. She said: "I’m not ready to talk about why yet [...] I always want my fans to be the first to know about those kind of things. [...] I’m going to write a letter… and stuff, [...] It’s complicated, but it’s going to be great."

On December 5, 2017, Camila revealed on Instagram the artwork and the title of the album, *Camila*. She also said that the pre-order of the album will be available on December 7, 2017, with two new songs, "Never Be The Same" and "Real Friends". In an interview on the backstage at KDWB Jingle Ball 2017, Cabello confirmed that there will be a song called "She Loves Control".

Camila revealed the official tracklist on December 21, 2017. The album was officially released on January 12, 2018 and it has reached #1 in 104 countries so far.

### Other important dates

* On July 6, Camila uploaded a picture in the studio.
* On July 20, Camila posted on Twitter a picture of a rose with the description "in the dark".
* On October 31, 2017, she shared a picture on Instagram in the studio with "for Halloween im dressing up as a girl trying to finish her first album".

## Singles

Originally, "Crying in the Club" was released as the album's lead single on May 19, 2017.

On August 30, Cabello announced "Havana", featuring Young Thug, as lead single, due to the global success of the song as a promotional single. The song has peaked at number one in several countries, and number one on the US *Billboard* Hot 100, where it became her second top five hit. The song was serviced to radio on September 8, 2017, with the music video debuted on October 24.

The second single, "Never Be The Same" was released along with the album's pre-order on December 7, 2017. The song was released to radio on January 9, 2018.

The third and final single, "Consequences", will impact US radio on October 9, 2018.

### Promotional singles

The first promotional singles "Havana" (featuring Young Thug), and OMG (featuring Quavo) were released on August 3, 2017, before Havana became the lead single of the album and OMG was omitted from the track listing.

"Real Friends" was released on December 7, 2017, as a promotional single. An alternative remix featuring Swae Lee was also released.

"In The Dark" was released as the final promotional single.

## Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 81 based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Several British publications that reviewed the album a few days before its official release, responded positively to the album as well as Cabello's vocals and songwriting. Kate Solomon from *Metro UK* perceived the singer's "shaken off the bombastic R&B favored by the 5H crew in favour of a short, sweet album of fairly understated Latin pop and classic pop ballads." *The Times*’ Will Hodgkinson also pointed out that instead of filled with "high-octave pop bangers", the singer has gone the other way, using sparse production techniques to frame songs about love and longing. Nick Levine of the NME deemed the album as a "strong and surprisingly confident first impression." For *The Guardian*´s writer Alexis Petridis, "*Camila*" is one of those moments where "the committee approach strikes gold: smart enough to avoid smoothing out the quirks and slavishly chasing trends," he also considered it as a "a product of the pop factory that doesn’t sound run-of-the-mill." The writer Leah Greenblatt from *Entertainment Weekly* was as positive as Levine and Petridis, giving the album a B+ she felt it as a "intimate project" where Cabello's voice shines over Latin-influenced songs and powerful ballads. She further commented: "Cabello’s voice isn’t especially distinctive, but it’s instinctually pretty: effortless and warm, with an edge of morning-after rasp."

Patrick Ryan of *USA Today* complemented the music which the album was built on, labeling it as a "vibrant blend of sounds and styles, bolstered by a reliable stable of hit songwriters and producers." Although he also felt that Cabello's over-reliance on AutoTune is "unnecessary" given the strength of her TV and acoustic performances. Ryan was not the only writer who noted Cabello's usage of AutoTune, other critics also criticized this point, Adrian Thrills of *The Daily Mail* for example, felt as "annoying" the presence of her auto-tuned vocals in the track "Never Be The Same" commenting it is spoilt only by its usage. Sam Lansky of *Time* magazine applauded the power of the album as a debut, stating Cabello proves she has the "chops to stand alone in the spotlight." As did Lansky, Newsday writer Glenn Gamboa believed that with *Camila*, she proves that she is a forced to be "reckoned with and ready to be one of 2018’s breakout stars."

## Trivia

* Camila spent her 20th birthday in the studio.
* Camila said on Twitter, if she were to pick a color for an album she said red, blue, purple and pink.
* Camila has said that she spent most of her time in the studio, whilst recording the album.
* Probably, one of the reasons for the album's delay may be because on August 21, 2017, Camila invited fans to eat ice cream on the street. While talking to them, a fan said that the album is crap because all the songs are already known. For which Camila decided to continue recording more songs.
* Camila said on July 6 2017, that she was just finishing writing her album.
* The album artwork and title was revealed by Camila on Instagram on December 5, 2017.
* On the cover of the album, a photo taken from the same photoshoot of the cover of "Havana" was used.
	+ That photoshoot was for Epic Records.
* The album signing event was held on January 13, 2018 in Trumbull, Connecticut.
* In an interview with *Billboard* at December 2018, Camila revealed she would've rather named the album *Never Be the Same* than *Camila*.

## Track listing

**Notes**

* **^[a]** signifies a co-producer
* **^[b]** signifies a vocal producer

### Cut songs

* "Ain't Easy"
* "Be Right There"
* "Cleopatra"
* "Closer Than This"
* "Come When I Call"
* "Crying In The Club"
* "Curious"
* "Died"
* "God Is A Woman"
* "I Have Questions"
* "It's Only Natural"
* "Just Like You"
* "Knows Me"
* "Must Be Love"
* "OMG" featuring Quavo
* "Sangria Wine"
* "Scar Tissue"
* "The Boy"
* "Thinkin Bout One"
* "Unforgettable"
* "Witness"

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/videos/Camila-cabello-explains-why-she-changed-the-title-of-her-album-to-camila
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skCOmL0m3N0
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BcU9oOJgADL/
4. ↑ *Instagram* - Camila's picture
5. ↑ *Instagram* - Camila's picture 2
6. ↑ *Twitter* - Camila's tweet about the finishing of the album
7. ↑ *Instagram* - Camila's post about the album is done
8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `:release`
9. ↑ *Twitter* - Camila revealing the album track list
10. ↑ *Twitter* - Camila's post in studio
11. ↑ *Twitter* - Possible recorded song
12. ↑ *Twitter* - Mike Adam announcing the third single
13. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7710168/camila-cabello-birthday-pharrell
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/Camila\_Cabello/status/882855144748048384
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/Camila\_Cabello/status/882855275337732096
16. ↑ https://twitter.com/Camila\_Cabello/status/882855438659633152
17. ↑ *Instagram* - Camila revealing the artwork and title
18. ↑ *Twitter* - Camila announcing the signing event
19. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `jap limited pressing`
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Este es el motivo de que Camila Cabello no incluyera sus primeras canciones en su álbum debut
21. ↑ Camila Cabello Talks Solo Music, Life After Fifth Harmony
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Camila Cabello and Zane Lowe on Beats 1 [Full Interview]