Camila Cabello – C,XOXO

After a build up of hype in the form of attention grabbing songs, Instagram posts, publicity stunts, and a surprise change of character and style, my hopes were high for this project. Of course, the lead single ‘I LUV IT’ with guest star Playboi Carti did put a limit to my expectations.

This track was, of course, the opener. I felt as if the robotic and wet autotune and lack of lyricism on Camila’s end really took away from her undeniable vocal ability that she has proven throughout her discography. Adding to this, Playboi Carti comes onto the track with a strangely entrancing, but ultimately just strange, verse in what sounds on first listen to be some cursed tongue. The follow up of tracks such as ‘Chanel No. 5’, with it’s forced rhythm in the hook, and ‘HE KNOWS’, with a simply attention grabbing, shock factor verse from Lil Nas X have already been heard by the masses. This, obviously, limits the amount of new content to be heard, turning the track list of 14 to around 11.

The track list is also cut down by the overused ‘xoxo’ interludes, with guest BLP Kosher, who could have graced us with a verse instead. These interludes take away from the album’s momentum, which fluctuated constantly.

I must say, however, that this album did have a few high points. I thought Drake’s feature on ‘HOT UPTOWN’ was by far the best on the album. His melodies and charisma reminded be of ‘Certified Lover Boy’, and ‘Views’ era of Drake.

‘Twentysomethings’ provides a break from the retro synths and 4-on-the-floor rhythms, and a very refreshing one. Camilla’s vocals are cosy, opposed to doused in autotune and reverb. She is able to show of her vocal ability a little more. Also, I feel that it is important to say that none of the tracks, bar the interludes, felt too short or too long.

Unfortunately, the upsides to this project stop there. The production is consistently poor, the drums are headache inducing. This is incredibly evident on the track ‘Dade Country Dreaming’ where the mix makes me feel borderline ill, with distorted and filtered vocal adlibs being panned left and right, as well as a horrible, ringy percussion sound. They do say that ‘if everything is crazy, nothing is crazy’, but the production on this albums isn’t all crazy, it is simply all bad.

 Most of the tracks have too much variation in their texture and many of the tracks that start well, like ‘June Gloom’, end up being disappointing. Many of the synth leads are annoying and the lyrics across the album from both Camila and her features are either corny, boring, crude or a poor mixture of them all.

Therefore, I give this album a 3/10.