Camila Cabello: On The Record: The singer takes us behind-the-scenes of making 'C, XOXO'

To celebrate the release of her highly anticipated fourth album C,XOXO, Camila Cabello joined us across Audacy Pop stations nationwide for the latest installment of On The Record.

For the special airing, Camila called in for a chat with Audacy’s Bru to take us behind the scenes of making the album, revealing stories, inspirations, her favorite tracks, and more.

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Talking about what it was like creating this album, Camila said, “It was such different process than any of the other albums…. I mean, that's why it signed C, XOXO … There were no other co-writers, it was really me, Guincho, and Jasper, my producers. Guincho is my executive producer and we just kind of bunkered down.” Also shouting out her vocal engineer, Bart, Camila continued, “We just, we were in it for a year and a half… every morning I would just kind of write lyrics.”

Noting that the album, “really feels so 'from me to you,' unfiltered, and the purest expression of myself creatively at this time.” Camilla expressed, “I'm really, really excited for everybody to hear because I really feel like it's my best work so far.”

Sharing that most of the album was recorded in Cabello’s hometown of Miami, “which is very fitting for an album that is dedicated to Miami,” Camila divulged her song “Twentysomethings” was recorded during a week-long session at New York’s famed Electric Lady Studios. She notes, “So that's why I'm singing about Cross the Bridge from New York, Manhattan to Brooklyn,” also revealing that some of the album was recorded in the Bahamas.

Delving into the inspirations behind the album, besides Miami of course, Camila said, “We had a lot of visual inspiration from spring breakers… I had put a little Pinterest board together the first week of being in the studio, I had a Pinterest board three months in, I have a Pinterest board for like everything I do. I had a Pinterest board a week ago when making this music video.

“I think about six months in when I was kind of writing these songs,” Camila recalled, “I was taking pictures of this kind of girl gang energy, like the spring breakers, like girls with like the ski mask on, and it feeling kind of very empowering and kind of dangerous and yeah, like tapping into that dangerous side of yourself. So, that was a big reference and I was listening to a lot of Rap. I was listening to Ethel Kane , I was reading a lot of poetry. I was reading a lot of female writers. I was reading a lot of Sally Rooney and books about writing. So, yeah… there was a lot of me soaking things in so that I could, you know, go from a lot of different places… to write the s*** out of it."

With all that in mind, when it comes to an overall theme this album represents, Camila thinks, “There's a big theme of coming of age and celebrating girlhood and what it is to be a girl that's learning to be a woman.”

While now we officially have the album in its entirety, we are already familiar with a few of the album’s previously released singles including the Playboi Carti-assisted “I LUV IT,” “HE KNOWS” featuring Lil Nas X , and “Chanel No.5,” the latter of which Camila dubs as one of her favorites of the 14-track project.

Explaining why, Cabello said, it's “because I feel like that was when I wrote that song, that’s when I was like, 'this is C, XOXO , this is the world o f C, XOXO. This is the voice, this is the perspective that I'm gonna kind of write the rest of the album from' -- like this kind of lip gloss, kind of like very in control, whimsical, but also a harder kind of perspective.

And of the songs we just got served up, Camila is most excited for everyone to hear “Dade County Dreaming,” she says, “because that's the other centerpiece of the album -- the love Letter to Miami, and also ‘HOT UPTOWN’ with Drake because it's a banger, and that’s one of my favorite songs on the album."

When asked if there's any particular memory that sticks out as one she’ll remember the most about the making of C,XOXO , Cabello revealed, “I'm thinking about this line in this song called 'DREAM-GIRLS' where we went to the Bahamas,” going off on a tangent to note, “I mean, there's so many stories when it comes to every, every line. Literally, I could tell you where it comes from or a story. Before she continued, “but it just made me laugh because there's a line in ‘DREAM-GIRLS’ we were at the Bahamas because we went to a studio in the Bahamas for 10 days to finish making the album. And I say finish because we still worked on it for like three months more after that, it was not done,” she quipped.

“And there's a line where I was gonna fly my friends out to the Bahamas to just hang out. But then I was like, 'Guys, I am so busy. So much writing that I still have to do and so much work left to be done.' And we basically got into a fight, but I had already written that line because I was gonna fly them out,” Camilla said, going on to sing the line in the song, “I flew the Girls to the Bahamas for a night out.”

"My friends and I always laugh at that line because we're like, 'we didn't go to the Bahamas, we actually just got into a fight,'" she laughs.

Going on to share what she hopes listeners get from listening to these new songs, Camila started with “HE KNOWS,” sharing it's a song that you play before going out. ... "before we go, and feel our most confident, before we're about to snatch up a man's soul."

Moving on to “I LUV IT,” Camila said, “‘I LUV IT’ is a song that you play when you're driving through the highway. And I wrote it about just feeling powerful and bada**.”

Jumping to the most recent single, “Chanel No.5,” Camila shared, “I wrote ‘Chanel No.5’ about this guy that I used to date who LOVED that scent on me… and it's my favorite song I've ever written in my entire life. I can't even, it actually just made me emotional to even think about that song."

Remaining in her feels when talking about “HOT UPTOWN,” her self-described banger with Drake, Camila expressed, "I'm emotional I guess right now because… I just had these clips of the songs playing in my head. And I'm like, I literally… I was like 14 singing, ‘I better find your lovin’, I better find your heart…' And I was like singing ‘Headlines.’ and I was listening to Drake since I was so young. The fact that I have a song with him… and the fact that they're such bangers… it’s just one of those 'wow!' I could never have told you that this was gonna happen," she adds. “It’s emotional to think about what I feel like I've achieved on this album.”

Offering up her final tidbit about “Dade County Dreaming” featuring JT and Young Miami . Camila said, “You know, I've lived in Dade County all my life. I moved there when I was seven years old from Cuba. And I have so much love for the city that I grew up in. Because it really took my family and I in when our homes were just not the right place for us."

Calling Miami home to this day, Camila pointed out a particular line in the song that goes —“party like I forgot I was famous, party in the city that raised us,” because thats how it feels when she’s there. “When I'm out with my friends, it's like yeah! This is the city that raised us and we have so many memories here, and I still get to experience it in different ways.”

Don't miss Bru's full conversation with Camila above, plus follow along with Camilla Cabello Radio and more on the free Audacy app.