I am fascinated by the career of Camilla Cabello. As someone who didn't engage with the band Fifth Harmony, I find it genuinely fascinating that Camila can depart from the group and all of a sudden make genuinely good music, including a number one hit with Havana which, I would argue, was very deserved. And however much her follow up track Never Be The Same was a complete bore fest, I still had real hope that her debut solo effort could at least be interesting to talk about, even though the album had already undergone one name change and it was scheduled for release in early January.
While both of these facts did dampen my hopes that this album was going to be good, along with the fact that I didn't really love a lot of the work that a lot of the co writers, and the fact that Frank Dukes is the main producer on this album, a producer who is best known for his work with Travis Scott, Future and Post Malone, and the fact that 'Crying In The Club', a song I otherwise like, was cut from the final track list for some reason, and the more I thought about this album, the more I thought it was going to be terrible. So, did it turn out okay?
Well, almost? I think I understand what Camila and her calibrating producers and writers were trying to do with this, but ultimately, Camila boils down to a string of modern musical trends that does show some potential for Camila Cabello down the road, but there are too many missteps all across Camilla that kept me from enjoying it as much as I wanted too.
So, let's start with Camila herself, and I'll give her points for clearly demonstrating the fact that she's grown as a vocalist, even though I still can't stand her falsetto, it didn't work on 'Bad Things', and it doesn't work here, especially when she tries to do the entire pre chorus in that range on 'Never Be The Same' where she just falls completely flat, but she's generally agreeable in terms of the range she's playing in across this album. Her best strengths as a performer seem to come in when she's required to underplay, which she's required to do a lot on this album. She's at her softest on the brief reencounter with an old ex on 'All These Years' and the reflection on 'Consequences'. Both of these moments are among the stickiest moments on this album, and it's so easy to explain why: she's sticking to a range that suits her, and this works for the most part.
It's a bit of a shame that I can't say the same for the rest of the musical elements that make up this album, especially the production which really is all over the map on this album. While you do have some tracks on this album that fall into by the numbers piano ballad territory like 'Consequences', you also have tracks that swap out for piano for guitar like the beautifully cleanly produced with the well mixed backing vocals on 'All These Years', but then you get the drudging, lumbering, percussion over melody approach that hinders 'Never Be The Same', the scratchy beat layered way too far to the front of the mix on 'Inside Out', and the cluttered percussion that drowns out the mix on the Skrillex produced 'She Wants Control', all of which were moments were I began to understand why this album was pushed go January for release.
Now, that doesn't mean to say there aren't more moments that I can get behind in the production of this album. I've already talked about 'All These Years', but I also like the dark piano melody on 'Havana', and despite the poor percussion mixing, there is a catchy synth line at the core of the mix on 'She Wants Control'; the horn blasts were also a nice touch to that track. Not to mention 'Something's Gotta Give' which actually has some real ghostly swell behind it, it doesn't sound bad at all. It is a bit of a shame that we didn't get more of that kind of sound on this album, it could have afforded to be more risky.
And that brings us nicely onto the songwriting on this album, and if you were going into this album hoping that Camila could bring some drama into her writing, like the entirety of Camila, you're getting a mixed bag. On the one hand, you've got the straightforward love songs on 'Never Be The Same', 'Inside Out' and 'Into It', but then you get a song like 'Consequences' where Camila shifts the focus of the listener in the final stanza to present to the audience how much she regrets the time she spent with this guy, in hindsight. A touching moment on an album that can occasionally feel dry in the writing. On 'Inside Out' Camila says 'I wanna love you inside out' to try and describe how much she loves this guy, despite it being the furthest thing from attractive. Also, on 'Something's Gotta Give', Camila tries to win sympathy by painting her as the victim in a poor relationship, but what I don't understand is why she doesn't just end the relationship herself. I still like the song, it is well produced, but the writing does bug me.
But then you get a song like 'All These Years', a song that shows Camila reconnecting with an old ex, but it's just for a brief moment, nothing more, and the framing does a lot to capture a lot from that mere second, and I can respect that, easily the best song here.
But, with all that being said, I can't justifiably join the leagues of critics praising this album. Sure, there are one or two good good songs on this album, but it can't make up for inconsistent production, writing, and vocals.
2.5 / 5
Best Tracks: 'All These Years', 'Havana', 'Something's Gotta Give', 'Consequences'
Worst Tracks: 'Inside Out', 'Never Be The Same'
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