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Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage
The archetypal fractional of 2024 has been for the popular girlie. It seems similar each large creator who’s dominated the sermon this twelvemonth has been a woman, ostensibly making euphony astir what it means to be a woman. There’s Chappell Roan’s “Femininomenon,” Sabrina Carpenter’s ode to the pistillate ego, “Please Please Please,” and Lorde and Charli XCX moving retired a labyrinth of emotions that travel with pistillate relationship connected the “Girl, truthful confusing” remix.
With her caller album, C,XOXO, Camila Cabello is looking to articulation their ranks. Historically, Cabello’s enactment has ne'er been ace revealing astir sex oregon thing else. But implicit the people of XOXO, she yet turns the absorption to herself, disclosing what it means to beryllium … Camila Cabello. She sings astir the interior and outer perceptions of womanhood, namely connected the introspective, hyperpop-adjacent “Chanel No. 5” and the reggaeton ode to her community, “DREAM-GIRLS.” Switched connected Pop shaper Reanna Cruz, alongside hosts Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan, unpacked some tracks astatine magnitude connected their latest episode, discussing however the lyrics and philharmonic cues assistance america recognize the psyche of Cabello.
Reanna Cruz: I deliberation the superior thought of C,XOXO is that Camila is trying to close the communicative astir herself. I deliberation a batch of radical constitute her disconnected arsenic an creator who is shallow oregon doesn’t truly person a affluent interior construction.
Charlie Harding: A communal disapproval waged against those who statesman their careers successful a lad radical oregon miss group.
Nate Sloan: One happening that strikes maine astir “Chanel No. 5,” successful summation to the hyperpop elements, is that there’s thing astir the opus that is simply a small spot disconcerting. Where’s the downbeat? Where is the pulse of the song? It’s a small spot up successful the air.
C.H.: I consciousness similar portion of that ungroundedness comes crossed successful the opposition of these precise hypersexualized, assured lyrics against the backdrop of this tape-warbled piano. It feels precise dusty, benignant of unattractive. And the mode that she delivers the vocal is heavy auto-tuned. A small mumble-y. Almost much to make a vibe than to beryllium understood.
R.C.: Yes, but I deliberation the pugnacious seed to ace present is Camila’s lyrics. Understanding the opus and the remainder of the Camila medium feels similar solving a cursed Rubik’s Cube — like, each clip you’re adjacent to finishing it, the adjacent determination benignant of gets it distant from you. It’s truly hard to parse and astir punishing successful trying to fig it out. So let’s look astatine verse 1 and its lyrics and effort to unpack what Camila is trying to say.
Fold for maine similar origami
Magic and existent similar Murakami
Red, chipped nails, I’m wabi-sabi
I’m the hеartbreaker, nobody’s got me, yеt
Make you tongue-tied similar caller shibari
Subtle and analyzable similar umami
Up to maine similar omakase
I’m a chaotic equine and nobody’s got me, yet
C.H.: I’m somewhat skeptical of utilizing this extended metaphor of the fewer things that you’ve seen from Japan. What are you trying to articulate?
One of the things that comes across, I deliberation much arsenic the opus progresses, is that there’s a batch of seduction here. It’s astir a narration which Camila calls transgression successful the opening of the opus (“He’ll ne'er survive, it’s a crime, it’s a crime”), and I deliberation we mightiness beryllium proceeding a spot of the woman experience.
N.S.: I don’t cognize if I’m acceptable to spell that heavy with you, particularly arsenic we spell done the remainder of the song, but astatine slightest we person to admit Camila Cabello utilizing the connection “origami” decently — which is much than we tin accidental for Tate McRae and her opus “Exes,” which has this infamous line, “changed my caput up similar it’s origami.”
R.C.: Well, I find this verse absorbing due to the fact that for one, I’ve ne'er heard “origami” rhymed with “Murakami.” But erstwhile you excavation deeper, past the archetypal absorption that this is nonsense, each enactment hints astatine thing bigger. Camila herself spoke of C,XOXO and this opus arsenic “a precise sensual one,” meaning “of the senses,” and that’s communicated successful a lyrical specificity. She says “magic and existent similar Murakami,” not referring to the creator Takashi Murakami, but the magical realism of writer Haruki Murakami.
C.H.: A deeper cut.
R.C.: She follows it by saying, “Red, chipped nails / I’m wabi-sabi.” And wabi-sabi refers to the accepted Japanese aesthetic worldview of imperfection. Each line, which connected the aboveground seems trivial, overgarment a much imperfect and elaborate representation of who Camila Cabello is. “Wabi-sabi,” she is imperfect, you know? Which is absorbing erstwhile Camila’s large hits look astatine her successful this simplified, astir Latin-fetishized way. Mainly a opus similar “Señorita,” oregon her 2018 deed “Havana.”
C.H.: Okay, truthful alternatively than being thing similar a enactment object, what we person present is her talking astir the seductive assurance of putting connected her fancy perfume —
R.C.: “Wrist wrist, spritz spritz.”
C.H.: — But a clump of the metaphors benignant of contradict that confidence. They amusement that there’s immoderate benignant of imperfection, arsenic you said. Perhaps adjacent the vocal styling, the information that it isn’t articulated successful each consonant and alternatively it’s benignant of mumbled — it each paints this larger representation of imperfection.
R.C.: “Chanel No. 5” is coating a representation of the imperfect feminine. And connected different songs connected C,XOXO, Camila is playing with a akin thought of womanhood, but from an external, rose-colored perspective. I’m reasoning of a opus similar “DREAM-GIRLS”:
It was Keisha, it was Sonia, it was Tanya, it was Monique
It was Niecy, it was Keke
Now you spot her astatine 26, each you tin accidental is “Oh”
And I deliberation she knows she’s the shit, yeah, yeah
Shawty, adjacent to me, is the shit
N.S.: This is simply a amusive track. Her dependable sounds wholly antithetic here. I consciousness similar Camila is embracing the modes of vocal look that she tin use. On “Señorita,” she’s belting and doing this pop-diva thing. But connected this album, she’s making her dependable dependable weird and mutable and chameleonic. And are these circumstantial imagination girls she’s singing about, oregon is it conscionable generic?
R.C.: I anticipation these are existent people. This opus is not about Camila. It’s astir her friends and experiencing the satellite with her friends arsenic a teen and young adult. Contrary to “Chanel No. 5,” this 1 is elemental and cute and communicates this nostalgic girlhood.
N.S.: That’s a bully departure successful presumption of the antithetic aspects of femininity we’re proceeding explored connected this record.
R.C.: It takes this girlhood and pistillate assemblage and puts it connected a pedestal arsenic if it’s a nostalgic ideal. That benignant of casual pistillate assemblage that, arsenic an adult, possibly Camila yearns for.
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