Cuban-born songwriter and performer Camila Cabello is one of the globe’s biggest pop stars. A former member of the popular girl group Fifth Harmony, Cabello, 26, is known for songs like “Havana” and “Bam Bam.”
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But with so many fans and so much success, one might wonder what Cabello has to say about her life, craft, history, legacy and the world at large outside of her popular songs. That is the subject of today’s inquiry. Here below are the 20 best Cabello quotes.
1. “The whole point of music is being able to share your story. I’ve been songwriting for a long time, usually while on the road, as a way to get my feelings out.”
2. “For me, I’ve learned if I want a very stable, normal relationship, where I’ll be like, ‘OK, this is nice, I know what’s going to happen in a month,’ it’s probably better to date outside the industry. But you can’t help who you fall for.”
3. “Because I’m a good girl, I tend to fall for the bad boy persona, and it ends up biting me in the butt. They end up not knowing how to treat me, and I end up completely devastated.”
4. “I’ve always written songs that were confessional, acoustic, wordy—my writing style matches my personality. The music always has to match the mouth it comes out of.”
5. “A lot of the music I write is about love. Sometimes I won’t understand how I am feeling until I write a song about it.”
6. “I think songwriting was the biggest way that I found my identity.”
7. “All of the songs my grandparents and parents listened to are called boleros—they’re all love songs. They’re about giving your heart to a person. It’s a culture that is so romantic and passionate, and that’s something that I’m very proud of. We grew up with nothing, so we just want to live a life full of love.”
8. “Any band, any group, someday is not going to be together anymore. That’s the truth.”
9. “I’ve had writing sessions with people, but I’ve never had one where you’re just there, and you start making a song, and then it’s too good to be true that something really cool will come out of this.”
10. “Look at Rihanna. She’s so sexy. She comes from Planet Sexy. I worship her. I really, really do.”
11. “Any song I do, I put my heart and soul into and, as an artist, you can only hope it makes other people feel the way you feel when making it.”
12. “You have to follow and honor that inner voice. I always encouraged the girls to do the same.”
13. “I like to know that when I’m 90 years old, I’m going to be able to look at a song or poem I wrote and say, ‘Wow! I remember I was so crazy about this person,’ or ‘I remember what that day felt like.'”
14. “Fifth Harmony as a group represents more confidence, more girl power, more unity. They’re anthems, as opposed to confessional songwriting about one person’s life when there are five individual women.”
15. “I would wake up really early and go into the hotel bathroom, put a towel over the toilet, and put my laptop there. I’d put my headphones on and just write. And so now when I do writing sessions, and I am stuck on a part, or I can’t figure out a chorus, I’m just like, ‘Give me a second,’ and I’ll go to that bathroom.”
16. “It’s been so difficult to watch people criticize me and my intentions.”
17. “I definitely think being a young girl, there’s a time where—like when you’re in middle school or when you first start liking boys—you don’t really feel comfortable. You remember that time when you first got your period, or when your boobs started coming in, that you were like, ‘This is weird.’ You have to grow into yourself.”
18. “Now and forevermore, I’m going to stick up for immigrants, and I’m going to stick up for Hispanic people and their rights. I feel like that’s just my job.”
19. “There’s definitely been times where there’s stuff that I have not been comfortable with, and I’ve had to put my foot down.”
20. “There’s nothing wrong with showing sexuality. If you have that inside, it’s just an expression of who you are. If you want to share that with people, that’s amazing. I love that.”
Photo by Manny Hernandez/WireImage
