"I'm from Cuba": Camila Cabello shows her Latin roots in Familia

April 9, 2022

Singer Camila Cabello premiered her album Familia this Friday, where she showcases her Latin roots. The artist born in La Habana is the daughter of a Cuban and a Mexican.

"I'm from Cuba," Cabello says on the first song of her album named Celia as a tribute to the Guarachera of Cuba. "Has lived her whole life without sugar, met Celia without going to Cuba," she says in the chorus.

With Yotuel she dedicates a song, Lola, to Cuban women who cannot get ahead because of the situation on the Island. "That's the price of my Lola when there's no way out. She wants freedom. She wants Homeland and Life," the song says.

Yotuel said on Facebook: "This song will be a tribute to my pearl of the Caribbean. You will shine again Cuba."

"I got very emotional when Yotuel said yes to writing on that song and collaborating with me because for me, 'Patria y Vida' changed history and gave people a lot of courage and hope that things could change in Cuba," Cabello told U.S. news agency AP.

The singer said that Lola represents not only Cubans but people in countries with an oppressive system, where "intelligent and talented people don't have the same opportunities because of where they were born and where they live."

"I was just reflecting on how my life would have been if my family hadn't come to the United States and all the possible alternatives," said Cabello, who emigrated to Miami at age six.

"Familia finally came out. This album means a lot to me. The journey I took with it changed me completely and not to be dramatic, but it saved my life," Cabello said on her social networks.

"I started this album at a time with a lot of mental shit. The process of making it, being vulnerable and being honest about my experiences and relying on other people, changed my life."

"And I'm so proud of it. And I'm so happy that you get to listen to it. This album really means a lot to me and I'm happy that it's out," she added.

Camila Cabello brings out her Cuban roots with salsa on her new album in the already promoted Don't Go Yet and Bam Bam, alongside Ed Sheeran. On the album she sings with Argentine María Becerra on Hasta los dientes. The singer who achieved international fame with the group Fifth Harmony doesn't lose her pop songs.

The singer told AP that the chorus "that's how life is like that" in Bam Bam is a phrase from her Cuban mother. "I feel like in Latin music there are so many songs that contain this kind of life lessons (...) you simply never know what's around the corner, you never know what's going to happen, how things are going to progress, change and transform."

When something bad or good happens, her mother always says "that's how life is... things catch you by surprise," added the aforementioned source.

In La Buena Vida she brings her part of Mexico with a mariachi touch from Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar. "That was one of the songs I wrote with (producers) Ricky (Reed), Cheche Alara and Edgar Barrera. We were playing songs I listened to as a child: I played some Alejandro Fernández, we were listening to mariachi songs that my dad used to play when I was younger. We thought, 'What can we do that would be interesting and strange?'" she told AP.

"My heritage and roots are a big part of who I am, and increasingly something that makes me feel really connected and happy and something that I want to embrace as I get older. It's really about community and how important relationships are to me, and I think to all of us," Cabello told AP.