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The first half of 2024 has been for the pop girlie.
With her new album,C,XOXO, Camila Cabellois looking to join their ranks.
Historically, Cabellos work has never been super revealing about gender or anything else.
She sings about the internal and external perceptions of womanhood, namely on the introspective, hyperpop-adjacent Chanel No.
Nate Sloan: One thing that strikes me about Chanel No.
Where is the pulse of the song?
Its a little bit up in the air.
It feels very dusty, kind of unattractive.
And the way that she delivers the vocal is heavily auto-tuned.
- Almost more to create a vibe than to be understood.
Yes, but I think the tough nut to crack here is Camilas lyrics.
- Its really hard to parse and almost punishing in trying to figure it out.
Im somewhat skeptical of using this extended metaphor of the few things that youve seen from Japan.
Well, I find this verse interesting because for one, Ive never heard origami rhymed with Murakami.
A deeper cut.
She follows it by saying, Red, chipped nails / Im wabi-sabi.
And wabi-sabi refers to the traditional Japanese aesthetic worldview of imperfection.
Wabi-sabi, she is imperfect, you know?
Which is interesting when Camilas big hits look at her in this simplified, almost Latin-fetishized way.
- Mainly a song like Senorita, or her 2018 hit Havana.
Wrist wrist, spritz spritz.
But a bunch of the metaphors kind of contradict that confidence.
They show that theres some sort of imperfection, as you said.
- 5 is painting a picture of the imperfect feminine.
This is a fun track.
Her voice sounds completely different here.
I feel like Camila is embracing the modes of vocal expression that she can use.
On Senorita, shes belting and doing this pop-diva thing.
But on this album, shes making her voice sound weird and mutable and chameleonic.
- And are these specific dream girls shes singing about, or is it just generic?
I hope these are real people.
This song is notaboutCamila.
Its about her friends and experiencing the world with her friends as a teenager and young adult.
Contrary to Chanel No.
- 5, this one is simple and cute and communicates this nostalgic girlhood.
Thats a nice departure in terms of the different aspects of femininity were hearing explored on this record.
That kind of easy female community that, as an adult, perhaps Camila yearns for.
