Camila is the debut album by former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello. It was released on January 12th, 2018. It was extremely hyped up in the pop world, with Camila's lead single "Havana" topping many charts worldwide, beating any of the past placements of her former group members.
Personally, I was extremely excited for this album. Camila was always my favorite part of Fifth Harmony, due to her very distinctive voice and the spotlight that usually shone on her. I was actually rather excited to see that she was leaving 5H, because I felt that a solo career would be the best choice for her. Her initial two songs, "Crying in the Club" and "I Have Questions", were both pretty okay. Nothing amazing, but I still had hope for her. Finally, the two follow-ups, "Havana" and "OMG", were both amazing. I'll talk about "Havana" later in the review, but "OMG" ended up being cut off of the album. It was a Quavo-featuring trap-pop song; it was great to get hyped to, and it sounded really fresh.
I'm going to start with the more upbeat songs on the album first:
"Never Be The Same" is the album opener and the second single from the album. It's certainly one of the more interesting songs. The pre-chorus is one of the best parts of the album, sonically, even though her pronunciation of "heroin" is inexcusable. It showcases Camila's vocals better than any song on the album, from the breathy and lilting chorus and pre-choruses to the deeper verses. The production is rather unique; it uses a lot of droning sounds that you usually don't find in pop. It's fresh, it's sonically pleasing, and it's powerful; a great second single option.
Skrillex-produced bop "She Loves Control" is exactly what I wanted to hear. The production is extremely interesting, and Skrillex isn't too overwhelming; he does just enough to make the song unique but it remains Camila's song. "She Loves Control" is a piece of storytelling, and as such, it doesn't really have quite the chorus that one might expect. Instead, there's a breakdown near the end. The Latin influences in the song come to the surface in the climax; it's all so pleasing.
"In the Dark" is a mid-tempo R&B track. It's... okay. It's very atmospheric, but it doesn't seem to have a lot of substance. It honestly sounds like one of the filler tracks on Mad Love. If it had a better chorus, I'd probably like it more. As it is now, it's just filler.
Finally, there's "Havana", Camila's biggest achievement thus far. It's topping charts in countries all around the world and sits at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's a Latin-influenced piece that is as close as Camila gets to a full out dance song on this album. The production is amazing; the piano is certainly the centerpiece of the instrumental, but the pounding drums, brass, and vocal clips also work really well. Young Thug is the only feature on the album, and I'm not at all a fan of his verse on this track. His strange voice just detracts from Camila's far stronger verses and powerful chorus.
"Inside Out" is a rather juvenile reggateon track. It's not trying to be serious, but it just doesn't sound as fun as it is obviously trying to be. It's just boring for the most part.
"Into It" has some of Camila's best falsetto in the pre-chorus, leading to yet another dissapointing chorus. It's the closest thing to a steamy song that Camila tries, with the lyric "I see a king size bed in the corner, we should get into it." Like a lot of other Camila songs, it feels like it has a lot of wasted potential.
A sizable portion of the album is more downtempo, full of ballads and the like. Camila seems to have decided to rely on sparse guitars and her vocals to deliver her message. It's not much better than the generic Fifth Harmony filler, and most of her ballads are forgettable to me.
"Real Friends" is probably the best of the acoustic tracks. It's definitely about her relationship with Fifth Harmony. The lyrics can be a little bit immature, especially the line "I thought that I could trust you, nevermind." However, it's not like Fifth Harmony was ever mature about the situation. The woodwind sound after the chorus is a nice change. "All These Years" is also pretty decent. However, it seems like it can live up to a lot more. The falsetto in the pre-chorus is really nice, but it seems like it could use a much stronger chorus. The outro is the most surprising part; it utilizes vocal chops and vocodors to create that kiiara voice effect.
Meanwhile, "Consequences" and "Something's Gotta Give" both fall flat. They both substitute guitars for pianos, which just makes the songs seem twice as boring as the other ballads. Camila just doesn't have a ballad voice; they all sound like generic 5H ballads. The writing isn't special, and the instrumentals are laughably bland. The little vocal sample in "Something's Gotta Give" is totally out of place and ruins any of the potential seriousness of the song.
Overall, Camila was a disappointment for me. Though I don't really mind most of the songs, very few are actually memorable. I still wish that Camila had decided to stick to the idea of the "OMG" and "Havana" singles; upbeat, interesting, and fresh songs, instead of using over half of the album just for generic filler. She still has potential, and I want to see where she goes, but this isn't what I wanted from her.
Final Verdict: 59/100
Favorite Tracks: Havana, Never Be the Same, She Loves Control
Least Favorite Tracks: Something's Gotta Give, Inside Out
Comments
Post a Comment