Although it was very easy to see the rebrand of Camila Cabello’s image as a cynical ploy for money, C,XOXO is a fun and radical new transition in her music. A wistful and experimental collection of songs dedicated to Miami, her youthful romances, and all her girlhood memories, listening to this album feels like living through the sticky humidity of a hot summer when all emotions are heightened to the point of rawness.

Her lyrics vacillate between pithy and vulnerable; a perfect companion to the slightly scrappy and low-fi sound of the songs. Although some are a little cheesy, such as ‘my lips taste like my drink’, ‘shouldn’t trust it that I want you, baby’ and ‘super twisted, sick addicted’, it is undeniable that her ambition flourishes alongside her blonde hair. She flickers between vaguely confessional dance-pop (‘Dade County Dreaming’) and more promising, personality-driven songwriting (‘June Gloom’). Her childhood home of Miami becomes an oasis of impermanent glimpses, a lustfully beautiful background for her explorative growth.

This record was a definite way of ensuring she is not pigeon-holed into any specific genre, since her solo fame had been defined by catchy Latin pop (‘Havana’, ‘Senorita’, ‘Bam Bam’). The more chaotic, darker sonic palette is a greatly welcome change; weird, infectious, and bratty, its undeniably derivative nature is forgiven for her refreshing spin on hyper-pop. ‘He Knows’, a Lil Nas X-assisted clattering earworm, hears her shift around tone and delivery as she croons about her lover’s addiction to her; the clapping in the instrumental fits a groovy, sensual driving beat. Standout track, the synth-driven maudlin ballad ‘June Gloom’ evades the glitchy autotune and trap-inspired triplet phrasing and sounds all the more naturally beautiful for it as she muses over an ex she falls back into bad habits with.

It is only a slight shame that all of the tracks on this album are quite short, since some of them (‘Pretty When I Cry’, ‘Chanel No. 5’) all but beg to be expanded upon to get a sense of completion. If she wished to draw a contrast between a relationship’s brevity and its broad impact, she sacrificed the full picture of the conduit of her recurrent themes: being young and desirable when the world is neither, empowerment, self-discovery, friendship and love in all its forms. An interesting production can only be cutting-edge when given space to sharpen the listener’s senses. It would definitely curb any suspicions that the album was haphazardly stitched together in a rush instead of carefully produced over months. Her personal experiences shine through noticeably in bonus tracks like ‘Baby Pink’ and ‘Come Show Me’ when her vocals agilely switch from auto-tuned flirtation to plaintive yearning, setting it apart as a deeper record than her preceding output; the assured nature of each track captures each emotional drift with acute honesty. However, in stark contrast to the passionate delivery of her lyrics, the overall effect is oddly detached.

C,XOXO feels more nostalgic than futuristic, but that does not mean Camila Cabello was not looking solidly into the future as she transitioned between sounds. Boundlessly crass and pining in equal measure, she does fulfil her stated goal of representing Miami’s ‘melting pot’ of sound. It’s sophisticated and unique; if the wordplay had been a slight bit smarter, this would have been a perfect album.

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