- Camila Cabello says she and her friends ‘were total losers’ as teenagers because they were so obsessed with music
- The singer spoke at the Tribeca Festival at Art Basel Miami Beach on December 7
- She said that at the age of 27 she felt like an adult for the first time
Camila Cabello may have been on national television when she was 15, but that doesn’t mean she thought she was cool as a teenager.
The “I Luv It” singer, 27, opened up about the total “obsession” she and her friends had with music when she was younger and how it affected their social lives in a conversation with Dave Grutman at the Tribeca Festival at Art Basel Miami Beach 7 December.
“We were total losers. We didn’t go to parties, we didn’t hang out with people,” she said. “I was in my room singing and playing YouTube instrumentals and singing and watching YouTube videos of my favorite musicians and artists.”
She continued: “That was my life. I’ve always been like that. I’m still like that.”
To prove her point, Cabello joked that she sang “Defying Gravity” from Wicked “every day” and even sang a verse for the crowd.
Camila Cabello reflects on her time in Fifth Harmony and stresses the importance of ‘conflict resolution’ skills
The Cuban-born star, who grew up in Miami, began The X factor 2012 at the age of 15. After finding success with Fifth Harmony, her group from the show, she released her debut solo album in 2018. In June, she released her fourth studio album, C, XOXO.
“Moving one’s own limits [is my motivator] and sometimes in music it can be a little difficult,” she said. “I get that question a lot: Were you worried about what your fans would think about this album? And to be honest, I wasn’t at all, but I think I should have been, in the sense that when it came out, people were like, ‘This is so different.'”
She continued: “For me, change and change feels so natural and I’m always kind of changing and realizing that there’s pushing my own boundaries, but maybe not alienating people… I feel like this last album was like that for me. I think this album was also really special because I don’t feel like people knew I was a Miami girl, and I feel like people resonated with the little Miami things that I put on that album.”
Cabello also went back to the fact that she started out in the industry when she was just a “tiny little girl” and is just now coming into her own.
Camila Cabello performs at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival in September.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
Camila Cabello says she’s currently taking ‘internet breaks’ and ‘living’: ‘A writer has to have stories’
“I’m finding out what’s really important to me and what my values are and it’s a process,” she said. “The second half of your 20s is when you really feel like an adult. At least for me, at the age of 27, this is the first time I really feel ‘I am a woman!’ Like, I’m an adult.”
Elsewhere in the chat, the star revealed that her favorite collaborator is Lil Nas X because he’s a “pure, sweet angel,” and that her favorite lyric she’s ever written is actually on an unreleased track called “Scar Tissue,” describing himself as a “f—–g idiot” for not putting in a track.
“It was from my first album and I didn’t release it because I felt it wasn’t as good as the other songs,” she said. “And honestly, people were in my ear about it, and they said it wasn’t as good as the other songs… and in the end, that meant the most to my fans. It was so honest. So I honestly think you don’t have to let people in your ear. That’s my advice.”
Cabello’s conversation with entrepreneur Grutman was part of Art Basel’s four-day Tribeca festival, which celebrates the intersection of music, art and film.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education