You may not remember Camila Cabello but she left the girl group Fifth Harmony late last year, there was a lot of drama surrounding her exit and a lot of public back and forth with her statement and the band’s statement that she blindsided them with her announcement. Camila is embarking on a solo career, she seems to be having some success with it and part of that may be her influential friends. She’s one of Taylor Swift’s squad, she name drops Swift a lot in interviews but to be fair she’s asked about her a lot too. In a new interview with Latina magazine, Camila explains that Taylor Swift gives her guy advice, which she’s said before. In this interview she elaborates a little on what that means. She also discusses her reasoning for leaving the band, which incidentally isn’t going to get a new name now that there are only four members. They haven’t replaced her yet either. Here’s some of what she told Latina with more at the source.
You’ve talked publicly about your struggle with anxiety. When did you realize it was an issue for you?
Late 2015 and the beginning of 2016. I had terrible OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder], and it was just totally out of control. I would wake up with a super-accelerated heartbeat and really negative, intrusive, compulsive thoughts. I was so inside my head, and I didn’t know what was happening. I totally understand now, being in it, why there shouldn’t be such a stigma on mental illness, because it’s a pretty common thing for people. But you can get help. If you’re dedicated to making it better, you can — because I’m in a much better place now. I started reading books about it and it really helped a lot when I understood [the illness], and that [the thoughts I was having] weren’t real. Sometimes you have to remind yourself to slow down and take care of yourself.Speaking of music, you’re friends with Taylor Swift, is she also a mentor?
Our friendship has never been about career or anything professional. I tell her about boys and cry to her about boys. She’ll give me advice like, “No, do not text him back.” But I’m so excited for the day that I get to play her my music because she is seriously one of the reasons I started songwriting. I feel like we have something really cool where we can just be honest with each other, and we can just be girls, talking about stupid crushes. It’s the best.When you met President Obama you cried and thanked him for everything he’s done for immigration. Now we have a president with a completely opposing view…
At this point he is president, but it’s about making sure our voices are heard and letting him know that we are not going to surrender to his language of hatred against our people, Muslim people, people of color, gay people, people with disabilities — everyone he shut down in order to get where he is right now. We’re going to stand our ground. He needs to be a good president, not just for those who voted for him but for all of us, even the people that he hurt and insulted. Love is gonna trump hate. I never planned on being so politically involved [Camila’s been vocal on social media and marched in anti-Trump protests], but this hit so close to home for me that it wasn’t politics anymore, this was a human issue.
I already said my piece on Taylor Swift giving dating advice. That’s like me trying to teach someone how to cook. I like that Taylor is tight with her friends and she does seem like she cultivates those relationships and is there for people. I really like Camila’s thoughts on politics and how immigration is a human issue. Plus she gets props for so openly speaking about her anxiety. She reminds me a little of Demi Lovato in that way in that it helps reduce the stigma for young people especially when artists talk about their struggle. As for whether Camila is going to make it as a musician on her own – she got a lot of press when she left Fifth Harmony and we’re still talking about her so that counts for something.
I wish interviewers wound stop asking people about TS, but I guess that’s what makes the headlines.
As for Camila, I like her comments about Trump and immigration… Given that she is Cuban, and that her father only was recognized as an American citizen just a few years ago, I can see why this topic is so important to her.
I used to dislike her voice and she used to be my least favorite member of Fifth Harmony, but I started to like her the moment she left the group, and now I’m excited to see what she is going to do. I’m looking forward to hearing her music this year
I 100% believe Taylor is setting herself up to run a talent agency, hence her “squad” and the buzz it creates. And I think it will be awesome. Her ability to manage public image and her ability to id what sells is above par. Can’t wait to see it happen.
How did this “manage her public image” work out in recent months?
She’s not infallible, for sure!
My family is Cuban so I want to support this chick because there are so few of us in the public eye, but I can’t with her cookie-cutter “sexaaay” music career. Her thoughts on immigration swung me around.
Lauren from 5H is Cuban, too.
the thing is, we assume that taylor wants anything more than flings because of her songs, but that’s part of writing and i would imagine it would be part of writing songs as well; you exaggerate stuff. you take one feeling, and you make it into the biggest thing ever, because it sounds better. does anyone want to hear songs about very stable, or boring relationships and meh feelings? i doubt it.
that said, the no texting back is the most basic advice, surely she can do better.
I don’t know, just because she can’t pull off a “You are the Sunshine of My Life” doesn’t mean other people can’t. She chooses teen melodrama because that’s who she is.
No wonder she suffers from anxiety asking the Queen of Breakups for dating advice. Do the opposite of what TS tells you and you will have much better luck with men! *not making fun of psd, just a little Taylor snark!*
I feel like her song bad things is played on the radio at least once per hour, so her solo career seems to be starting off strong. It’s a little ironic that she feels like she was too sexualized by fifth harmony and then she comes out with with that song.
I was honestly really impressed with Bad Things – I thought it sounded good.
I actually stopped the car and pulled over the first time I heard it because I’m like “I KNOW THIS”.
The guy who wrote Fastball’s Out of My Head seemed really excited that Camila and Mac’s version had climbed the charts like crazy – it’s really heavily sampled, but they flipped the meaning around. I always loved the Fastball version.
I love Bad Things.
As for the comment about feeling sexualised in 5H, I think there’s a difference between being 17, trying to discover yourself while being told by men (producers, managers, etc) how to dress and dance; and deciding to do it on your own. Her complains were about having to put her foot down and say “no” to some stuff because she felt they were trying to sexualize her. It’s not the same as being comfortable in your own skin and decide for yourself to sing sexual songs, or dance sexily, etc.
OH NO, that song is hers? I always shut that song off because it is. the. worst. song. EVER. She sounds like a little girl that inhaled helium while singing the chorus. It’s cheesy, dumb, and creepy all at the same time.
Actually, the song is MGK’s and she’s just a feature. I really don’t feel like she’s “solo” – yet – considering the songs that are out right now are collaborations on OTHER artists’ tracks. As for the “over-sexualizing,” her mom was/is always there, why didn’t she do anything about it, if it was that big of an issue? They were minors: the parents had a say.
She has one of her worst voices I’ve ever heard, I honestly can’t believe she gets to sing professionally.
All I got from this was the twitter post at the end about her & Taylor’s “late night conversations over milk & cookies, and living room dance parties…” My eyes cannot roll hard enough. Ugh…🙄
When Taylor Swift’s publicist tells you to post the birthday message that was written to sound like her lyrics, you post the totally sincere birthday message that sounds like her lyrics. At least she didn’t mess it up like Scott Disick and include the instructions.
I too remember sleepovers from when I was five.
Hoooo well her voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me. Her season of X Factor was coincidentally the only one I watched and it seemed like even from the beginning she was trying to position herself as “the leader” of Fifth Harmony, which seemed silly to me given none of them play instruments so they don’t need a “the singer” and she was never the one with the strongest voice. They also tried to make her stand out by ALWAYS making her wear a bow, which was ridiculous and continued for some time after the show ended. If I had to guess, I’d say she got a big head and the rest of them got sick of her histrionics. I find their music catchy and great for workouts but her new song is like nails on a chalkboard for me.
Everyone wants to be the Beyonce. I really don’t understand the point of groups nowadays, since they all end up breaking up and whoever has the biggest ego and special treatment gets a solo deal. I don’t doubt she got a huge ego and making friends with Swifty she thought it was her time to make moves.
Can you not edit comments after they’re approved? I said the same thing twice, sorry everyone, morning brain! She is no Beyoncé, hopefully she knows that. Probably not though. In all of their defenses, it can’t be easy being 20% of a successful group where no one even plays instruments. You don’t get any individual praise, you’re not allowed to have any identity past “the black one” or “the sporty one,” which is at worst incredibly racist and at best gross.
Why does every girl on this ‘squad’ is always talking about how Swift gives them boy advice, is there any other thing they talk about? Also isn’t Taylor almost 30, why is she still so obssessed with boys?
I’m still waiting for that squad to pass the Bechdel test.
LOL!
tbf Im sure they spent a lot of time bad mouthing Katy Perry.
The Katy feud seems to be over the fact that she dated TS ex so it fails the Bechdel Test double.
Its really sad. Camila is still young but Taylor is an internationally succesful woman who is going to be 30 soon and still talks about playing hard to get with “boys”. Sad!
i love some of what she’s saying for sure but – hitching her wagon to taylor swift is only smart in the short term. now she has to toe the line and hope she doesn’t screw up and get kicked off the squad and blackballed in taylor’s pocket of the industry.
this girl is very beautiful but what is with these young girls looking so drowsy. is it the false eyelashes? xanax? seriously she can barely keep her eyes open.
If they’re truly friends, God bless, but do they ever talk about anything else other than boys? Call me judgy but I’ve always thought there was something off about her. Still do.
It’s only out of convenience. If miracles happen and Camila becomes competition, Taylor will destroy the friendship, like she always does.
So basically the advice I would give when I was in high school. Ladies, if you have to play games to get a guy to like you then BACK AWAY
Isn’t refusing to answer a guy just on general The Rules principles the definition of playing games? Answer the danged text if you’re interested!
Now a days this is what the young ones do. They pretend not to be interested in a person though in reality they really like the person. Stupid games…but I guess it works !
I read that differently. She said she was crying over boys and Taylor advised her not to text him back. In other words, when the guy who used you and hurt you starts to text you because he wants to start the cycle again, don’t fall for it.
Maybe I am wrong but that is how I interpreted that part of the interview.
Why aren’t her racist texts from the early days of 5th harmony not a thing?
Had not heard about this, would not be surprised.
Yep, someone leaked her private Facebook or Twitter messages and she called the black members of her group n****s multiple times (while speaking about them to another friend, not directly to the members) … As well as just generally shitty things about how ~terrible her group mates were and how they were so jealous of her… Also weird stuff about how in love she was with Harry Styles and some other boyband member?
Most of it I’d be able to excuse for being a particularly dumb and self-absorbed teenager, but not the racial slurs
She called all of them the N-word, but in her chat with her bff, the bff said not to tell Normani, because she really was a N-word. There are screen caps of the convo on twitter.
She showed up in a music video with Pitbull and J Balvin…. not impressed by her vocals, although I thought it was pretty neat that she was venturing into other genres and markets. Didn’t realize she was Latin.
Yup, she was born in Cuba.
Totally girly comment, but
I would Kill for her hair!!!!
Sorry I had to say it .
I know this is going to make me look terrible but Taylor Swift sounds corny af
I can’t with the milk n cookies living room dance parties. I’m sorry. I hate the way it sounds even if I’d like doing it.