The Diamond-certified pop star explains how to find your voice and create at a high level in our Song Start series.
Creatives are often expected to be bursting with ideas and ready to work at a moment’s notice, but anyone who’s written or recorded a song before knows it’s not that simple. Whether it’s finding the right collaborators, figuring out the most efficient way to use your time, or simply finding the spark of inspiration when you need it the most, staying on top of your creative productivity can be a challenge to say the least.
As part of our educational Song Start series, Spotify sat down with hit-making singer and songwriter Camila Cabello to learn more about making the most of your writing sessions, developing relationships with your collaborators, and fostering your own sense of creative productivity.
Cabello has been singing, writing, and performing since a young age. She gravitated to the process because it allowed her to express emotions in a way she otherwise couldn’t, and she tries to hold this truth close to her heart today, even as she pens songs that could be global hits.
“Music is a feeling of liberation and expression that you just don’t find with any other form of art,” says Cabello. “Having a melody that says an emotion before even saying a word, or a chord progression that captures the feeling like no word can, it’s just a really specific feeling of expression that’s irreplaceable.”
Fans first fell in love with Cabello when she appeared on The X Factor (U.S.) in 2012 as part of the girl group Fifth Harmony. She began to make a name for herself outside the group with songs like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” with Shawn Mendes and “Bad Things” with Machine Gun Kelly, but quickly realized she had to find herself all over again as a solo artist.
“I started by writing by myself,” Cabello explains about finding her footing as a solo musician. “I think I went through a phase at the beginning of my solo career, where I was starting to write with other people for the first time, that I would get really nervous. I would get really anxious, I would feel shy. Sometimes it was more about impressing other people in the room.”
She worked through these feelings by learning to build bridges with her collaborators even before she hit the studio. “Have coffee with them first and hang out with them first,” she advises. “Gauge whether or not you like their mindset, you like their values. I think it’s about building that trust and building that intimacy.”
During studio sessions, Cabello started opening up about the emotions she was experiencing in the moment rather than hiding them. “I’ve been stressed and anxious plenty [of times],” she says. “The best way is just to speak about it and be open about it.”
This, in turn, helped the people around her work off of and draw inspiration from her mental and emotional state to create music that spoke to her truth.
“Creating a healthy relationship in the studio with your collaborators, it’s about feeling like you trust them and feeling like your weird, messy, human mind and emotions are going to be accepted with curiosity and not judgement. Feeling like it’s a safe space emotionally,” she notes.
Cabello has two solo albums to her name so far, but the creative process for each one was different. After finding massive success with singles like “Havana” and “Never Be the Same” from her self-titled debut album, the singer struggled trying to write follow-up hits for her sophomore effort.
“I’ve had many a creative low point. In the year that I was in the [second] album-making process, there were a lot of times where I was like, ‘I don’t even know who I am. I don’t know if I know how to write a song anymore. I’m lost,’” she says. “But the truth is, everybody struggles with those feelings, even the people that you most idolize.”
She notes that the always-on mentality of the music industry can take its toll, and advises artists to make sure they’re creating from a genuine place. “In our culture, it’s so romanticized for it to be stressful and chaotic, and to be tired and overworked and exhausted and burnt out, and to keep doing it anyway,” she says. “I don’t really think that yields the best results. It’s a relaxing, loving, positive vibe that you’re going to get the best out of everybody. I think it’s changing the paradigm.”
She also says finding a team you can rely on is paramount. “I genuinely feel like I would not have the success I had without the team around me being amazing,” she emphasizes. “I always believe having that positive energy and that safe space is what helps everybody do their jobs well.”
Ultimately, Cabello calls on artists to stay true to their vision, even when it’s hard. “Go for the things that are interesting to you,” she says. “Be selfish in your art and really make it for your pleasure. It’s really not about the result, it’s about the process and the successes and the fun that you had making it.”
To learn more about the nuances of songwriting, check out her Song Start episode below: