Album Review: Camila Cabello explores new depths on the Spanish-sung "Familia"

The Cuban-American singer's follow-up from her self-titled debut is her first album taking over her Latina identity

Camila Cabello's third album, and her first in Spanish, "Familia" plays out like a telenovela, feeling irresistibly fresh, messy, and human. Its cultural beauty and revelations about her Latin heritage are often lost in the drab lyricism.

Score: 6.7/10 ⭐⭐⭐

To know how Camila Cabello got to this point in her career is like a memory in the back of your mind. She was the arresting lead singer for the record-smashing girl group "Fifth Harmony", which eventually disbanded in 2017, a year after Camila did. The reason that has to do with this is her progress as a solo artist in general. She debuted with her self-titled album "Camila" in 2018, which included her lead single "Havana" featuring Young Thug. Hearing back on it 4 years after, the tropical, slow-groove ballad attains the fact that Cabello has always had this influence. "Familia"'s predecessor, "Romance" was ridden in this "tropical" wave I aforementioned, most importantly on the duet with her now ex-boyfriend Shawn Mendes titled, "Senorita". Camila has marked her territory on the Latin Pop genre with "Familia", and it plays out like a telenovela, feeling irresistibly fresh, messy, and human, but its cultural beauty and revelations about her Latin heritage are often lost in the drab lyricism.

The opening of this "telenovela" is set on the first track and the title track titled "Familia", a 17-second intro where you can hear trumpets as if there was a dramatic scene showing hair waves flowing as Camila's done before on the "Havana" video, but then leads to "Celia", the showcase of the album, exploring her depths in Cuban folklore and urbano-latino tropical percussion. "psychofreak" featuring the controversial and random "WILLOW", who is ~you know who~'s daughter. It's one of the most versatile moments on the album but it's losses take over the overall basis of what the album is based off of what the album is anyways. The first line goes "Trying to get connected, no WiFi", which ticks off the potential of the lyricism. Instead of taking a leap forward of the balmy, lucid songwriting shown on "Romance", she takes steps backwards. From the start, "Familia" felt like a take on a commercial, concept album but while some songs stand out to be her best, there are moments where Cabello can't get out of her own head. "Bam Bam" with Ed Sheeran is a decent, moving and lively song but is an example of how repetitive the style is, Camila is seem to be strict about where she wants to stand in control of the combination of the heartbreaker songwriter and the romantic ambiance.

And when I say "romantic ambiance", I mean the moments where "Familia" stands out to be euphoric and cinematic like a drive home from Miami Beach in the sun-down evening. "La Buena Vida" is a beautiful ballad in dedication to her past lovers, in addition to violin and the incredible sound of the instruments. Next, "Quiet" and "Boys Don't Cry" are synth-pop songs that stuns the aesthetic of Camila's varieties and takes on different genres. Most of the pop songs do not hit the same musically as her past ones but to appreciate Familia as the project it is, it hits right at the core. The best song is after this. "Hasta Los Dientes" with rising star Maria Becerra is pop perfection. It takes a few moments to realize the hold Camila has on the pop and latin genre crossover. She even gets dark and sultry on "No Doubt", proving the show that the album has put on for its listeners is reminiscent of a movie soundtrack. The next and lead single of "Familia" is "Don't Go Yet", the star of the album, with no hold-backs or missteps. She is proud of her heritage as a Latina woman and she is enjoying the progress with no regrets.

Heritage stays important on the next song with Yotuel, "Lola" stating "She knows the stories 'bout the police, police" in relation to the historical communism going on in her country Cuba. She expresses the life as a Cuban woman who wants to express herself as her own identity but can't because of where she lives, and Camila does it perfectly. She steps into the world that people have not seen and brings out the storytelling of the fictional "Lola" as if it was based on a true story, which is. It's a basis of the Cuban regime and Camila has never been this empathic before in her writing. Which brings me to the closer "everyone at this party", a soft ballad of the awkwardness it is to break up with someone. She navigates her own insecurities of love in lines like "And I just had this vision of you looking at me different, when you saw this dress." Having ended a relationship so recently, "Familia" is a jump into the past and future of her life, showing she is ready to move on. Camila Cabello is a little wiser and a lot more in love. Though uneven, Familia is a bright, fun album with great emotional honesty, stating that her best is yet to come.