Camilla Cabello has played a few different girls in her career. As a member of the X Factor–forged girl group Fifth Harmony, she stood out to the show’s judges as an accessible, all-American pop star—so much so that after four years, she opted to embark on a solo career in 2016. In early releases like “Havana” and “Señorita,” the Cuban-born singer served up a 21st-century Carmen Miranda fantasy, seemingly geared to anglophone consumers.
Cabello dug deeper into her heritage in her 2022 album, Familia. Yet the vulnerable ballads of a dutiful immigrant daughter weren’t only about her own identity but her relationship to Latino culture more broadly. In songs like “Lola,” she contemplated a parallel universe in which her parents never left Cuba and Mexico to pursue greater ambitions.
In the lead-up to her new album, C, XOXO, Cabello broke things off with her longtime flame, Shawn Mendes, and ditched Los Angeles for the city that raised her: Miami. She then called on star producers El Guincho and Jasper Harris to help assemble an edgier sonic vibe for her, inspired by the hip-hop sounds she grew up with. Fusing her tracks with Jersey club (“I Luv It” with Playboi Carti), reggaeton (“Dream Girls”), and Afrobeat (“He Knows” with Lil Nas X), Cabello emerged with an eclectic record that mirrors the melting-pot quality of the Magic City.