Camila Cabello used her sellout London show to share details of her ‘toxic’ relationship history.
The Havana hitmaker took to the stage at the O2 Academy Brixton on Tuesday (12Jun18) night and introduced the concert by performing Never Be The Same, which is also the name of the singer’s current tour. But when it was time to showcase Something’s Gotta Give, a track from her self-titled debut album Camila, the 21-year-old decided to take a moment to explain exactly what the song is about.
“I had to make a choice,” she told her 5,000 fans in the audience. “Choosing to love myself enough to get out of a toxic relationship, or let the fear of change stop me. I had to ignore the fear that was telling me that change is too scary. It’s a constant battle.
“Love will tell you to follow your dreams and fear will convince you it’s wrong,” the former Fifth Harmony star added.
It may sound like the Cuban-American songstress is talking about a former partner, but it’s possible she was referring to her break from her former band mates – though Camila’s decision to go solo was reportedly met with an acrimonious response.
Lyrics in the chorus include the words “Something’s gotta change, but I know that it won’t. No reason to stay, is a good reason to go,” while video footage depicting a number of U.S. based protest marches played alongside the song, giving the performance an additional emotive twist.
Though the Crying in the Club songwriter is brave enough to share personal stories through her music, she recently admitted that she feared she wouldn’t be taken seriously having originated from a manufactured girl group.
“I was just coming out of a group whose songs were all written by other people… so people would be like, ‘Oh, here’s this idea for you today. You’re going to cut this song’,” she explained to Rolling Stone. “And I’d be like, ‘Well, I have this concept that I really wanted to write about today,’ and I’d pull out my laptop, and I would have lyrics and things. When I had input, they were surprised.”
