Just as spring commenced to bloom, it blossomed into 1 of the greatest diva seasons in pop heritage — from Ariana Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” and Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” to Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” Dua Lipa’s “Radical Optimism” and Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Tender.”
But as we established summer months off, there are no symptoms of diva fever cooling off, with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and Chappell Roan bringing that femme warmth.
And let us not ignore about Camila Cabello, who is back with her new album “C,XOXO,” out on Friday. It’s her fourth album because heading solo from Fifth Harmony — and how the hell did that materialize? Wasn’t she just, like, breaking up the team?
Perfectly, since then, she has not particularly grow to be the up coming Beyoncé.
But, really do not get it twisted, she’s however experienced hits like “Havana,” which strike No. 1 back again in 2017, to “Señorita,” another chart-topping solitary that she experienced with Shawn Mendes again when they had been jointly.
And on her new LP, Cabello collabs with anyone from Playboi Carti (on the trappy opener “I Luv It”) to Lil Nas X (on the electro-popping “He Knows”) to previous Town Women JT and Yung Miami (on the reggaeton jam “Dream-Girls”).
But the A-additionally-listing guest is Drake, who reveals up on not one but two tracks. And my jam is their joint “Hot Uptown” — which is scorching for genuine y’all.
It can take you back again to the house vibes of Drake’s 2022 album “Honestly, Nevermind,” and virtually reminds me a very little bit of his “Take Care” collab with Rihanna. And there is even a hint of the Afrobeats bliss of Tyla’s “Water.”
There are other bops on the album, as very well as ballads — she’s frequently weaker at the latter, though she flexes some vocal skills when she slows it down on “B.O.A.T.” (which stands for “best of all time”).
But in spite of its over-all solidness, the album is a little all around the put — and Cabello does not have the singular vocal beastness of, say, Christina Aguilera to hold it all alongside one another.
And as significantly as chart plans go, I do not listen to yet another “Havana” or “Señorita” in this article.
Even now, Camila is receiving some XOXO from me.
