It’s been 2 years since Camila Cabello released any new music. But lucky for us she’s officially making her return with a new single “Don’t Go Yet,” which will also appear on (drum roll please!) her upcoming third studio album, Familia.
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After teasing the track earlier in the week, it finally arrived alongside a Philippa Price and Pilar Zeta directed music video, and its a family affair, featuring many of Cabello’s actual family members, including her dad, sister, and cousin.
As she explained on YouTube’s Released, for Camila the song and music video were inspired by Cuban-Mexican family parties from her childhood, where “everybody eats dinner, and then after you put on a little cheap disco ball with lights and suddenly the living room is the dance floor.”
A fitting lead single to kick off the rolling out of her upcoming album, which very obviously is all about Familia. And the first to follow, since her 2019 album Romance, which featured massive hits like “Señorita," “My Oh My,” and “Liar.”
After taking a break due to many factors including the pandemic and then shooting a movie, Camilla was ready to return to her love of making music and this time around she planned on doing things a little differently. As she told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, “I took a nice little break. I filmed a movie. And then when it was time to get back in the studio I was like, ‘Okay, I want to do this differently than I ever did it before.’ I want to just work with people that are my friends first and people that I build intimate relationships with and I want to do it in an intimate way.”
For Camilla that meant starting off with Scott Harris, who she became close with because he’s a frequent collaborator of Shawn’s (as in Shawn Mendes, Camila’s equally famous and talented boyfriend). “I was like, ‘Hey, do you want to write together?’ And it started off he and I in my bedroom in my house in Miami. And then we brought it over to LA and we brought along Mike Sabath and Ricky Reed and then we made this song.
For this particular project, connecting with her roots was less of a thought out design for Camilla, but more of a manifestation to create a “collective joy.” Telling Apple Music, “I was like, ‘I don't want to be alone on stage, I don't want to be alone hopefully doing the tiny desk." I want it to be that kind of family affair selfishly, because it would make me happy. It would make my life better and that's what I want, so that's really what I was trying to manifest with this whole album. And I think "'Don't Go Yet' is sonically and melodically, just me being free.”
Camilla continued, noting her familiar surrounding at the time also had a lot to do with the inspiration to connect even more to her roots on this one , “I think being in Miami for so long and having more family around me and speaking Spanish more made me feel, I don't know, just kind of brought me back. I think my roots went deeper in a way that I really needed. And I think this album for me was a manifestation. After all, “the name of my album is Familia.”
Straying from the topic of music, Camilla and Zane discussed a few of the struggles she faced throughout her hiatus, many of which arose when Camilla was for all intents and purposes forced to slow down due to government sanctioned lockdowns. “I feel before COVID, I was just feeling a little bit... I've been working for so long with no real break… just lost and struggling, not going to lie. I had been working since was 15. I was really struggling with my mental health. And I think that just there was a combination of burnout and just, I don't know, I wasn't feeling great. And I think when I was emergency flown from the movie back to Miami for a few months, I was a little bit... Obviously it was a terrible thing, but I think for my personal life and my brain, it was really good to slow down. And so I was like, 'Oh, this is...' I don't know. I was just kind of learned how to be I think a human and develop interests and passions outside of the studio and outside of music and outside of that. And I think that that brought me really close to... brought me really close to my family.”
While taking time off was never actually the plan, having to do so was a blessing in disguise for the former 1/5 of Fifth Harmony. It allowed her to slow down and focus on family, which in turn inspired her when it came to her music.
Camilla went on to note, “for me, even when I think of… the word family,” it doesn’t just mean “your immediate literal family… for me, it's also your chosen family, your friendships and your relationships, in that broader sense.” Which Camilla admittedly said she “neglected for so long too, because I was never in the same place for more than a week or two. So I think this was a chance for me to really consciously work on and invest in what I think makes me and human beings truly happy, which is your relationships and your connection to the people around you.”
While spending time with her loved ones helped in the inspiration department, it more importantly helped Camila overcome a “low point” in her life she wasn’t even aware of until she was forced to stop and take a look, and by doing so it not only made her a better person, but a better artist.
“To be honest, before that break I feel I was, I hit such a low point and I was struggling so much and kind of feeling so isolated. It ended up really solidifying I feel this idea of true happiness and it really coming from my connection to my life and to the people around me. And I feel now it's almost... I feel I've lost a lot of fear, for a music video or before a studio session, I would get really nervous and I think getting to that kind of low point made me feel, oh, I actually don't give a f*** I just want to make music with my friends and have a good time."
Check out the music video for “Don’t Go Yet,” above, but like all the way above.
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