Camila Cabello is arguably one of the biggest breakout stars of 2018.
The 21-year-old singer has come a long way since her days as a Fifth Harmony member. Currently in the midst of a world tour, the pop star recently sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about her friendship with Taylor Swift, leaving Fifth Harmony, and her smash single, “Havana”.
It’s been almost 18 months since Cabello quit her girl group to pursue a solo career. “It was as painful as a breakup, a 5-year breakup,” she said. “I don’t think there was ever a point where I was like, ‘I want to leave because I’m the breakout star’,” the “Sangria Wine” singer explained. She was led to believe that pursuing a solo career while remaining a Fifth Harmony member wasn’t an option.
She added, “We were just really young. If we were in the same situation now, it would probably be fine for everyone to make their own music while being in the group, because I think everyone understands now that you can’t limit people. That’s why people break free.”
So how did Cabello cope with the repercussion from leaving the group? Longtime pal, Swift, suggested that she “just write it out”. The A-lister told the music magazine, “There were so many songs that didn’t make my album that were just me getting it out”, referring to the tracks that didn’t made the final cut for her LP, “Camila”.
Cabello has Hailee Steinfeld to thank for introducing her to Swift. When the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer learned about Cabello’s breakup, “she sent me a breakup playlist and said, ‘Come over. Let’s talk about it.’ I think the Haim girls were there. It was, like, a girls-night thing.”
Later in the interview, Cabello opened up about her surprise smash hit, “Havana”, which was her first number one single as solo artist. “Nobody wanted to make it a single. They said that radio would never play it, that it was too slow, too chill,” she recalled. The song went on to top the charts in 23 countries.
The young pop star added, “It just taught me a huge lesson: Screw whatever’s ‘going to work’ – you just have to go with the thing that you feel is the most you.”
You can read the full interview here.
