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here we go here we go isn't it amazing how fast it happens all of this work you you build up to this moment you make this music you ready your message you say what you need to say and then it's just like SC yeah it's crazy cuz I feel
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like I was a hermit crab for like 4 months so I actually to me it feels like it happens super slow and then all of a sudden it's like like right before I posted that the letter that I did on Instagram to explain like the meaning of the album I just got this these
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butterflies at the pit of my stomach I was like before you pressed s yes I well while I was writing it I was like I just had like a nervous gag I was like oh my God this is actually this finally happening now cuz I feel like I kind of forgot for a second that people were
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going to hear it which is good cuz I feel like yeah you're completely immersed in the process exactly but then I was like oh my God but you know you did it and I think that a lot of people you know at that point if they were nervous about that there may have been a
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restricted flow of information and maybe you know we'll do this over time uh you know you've laid yourself out in the open and being honest right from the get-go yeah and I think that it it feels and reading it at least from your perspective from a from a young
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musician's perspective to be able to make a statement that dramatic that early on like you needed to say yeah yeah I mean I also completely cut off social media while I was making it and while I was writing it which I think influenced that a lot but I think that's
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also why I got to be just like completely um unfiltered and I yeah it was stuff like you said that I just like needed to get off my chest it didn't just feel like you know making an album cuz I had to make my first solo album you know I feel like it started that way
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for the first month just being in the studio I was like oh okay and then I was just like this is something that I need to do for my S and I feel like it feels different it does and it feels different like the reason we're sitting here
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having this conversation is because people keep talking you know I'm going to throw my hands up I mean Fifth Harmony is not really my world isn't something I'm I'm aware of the skill set involved in making pop songs of that caliber and I respect the craft but it's
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not something I'd race home to and then people start saying to me like you know about this young artist who's left Fifth Harmony and I was like all right and so I started talking to people and then Charlie XX really seal the deal love her so much when she was just like she's the
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best writer I've ever collaborated with and Charlie has done some collaborations yeah totally I mean the first time that Charlie and I wrote together that song is actually going to be on the album It's called um Scar Tissue yeah and um I
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think there's also something for me about writing with girls and girl energy I just feel like we just kind of understand each other more if that makes sense like I'm less afraid with girls to be like to be just super emotional and I just remember I just came in and I just
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um you know we were talking and I pulled out my laptop where I have basically like from the beginning I had a list of Concepts and titles that I knew for sure that I wanted to write about and so I would wait for whether it was like a beat that somebody pulled up um to be
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like okay this matches with this whatever whatever I pulled up this reference of you know the song Don't Wait by my and I was like I really want to write a song about this and so I read some of the lyrics that i' had written for the song called scar tissue and um
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she's like incredible she just has the best Melodies that I've just ever heard like she just goes in there and just like oh that's that's that's it um and I would definitely like I really want to collaborate with her so much more cuz I
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think that we really we clicked have you had moments in sessions where you have been fearful or it's it's it's been it's been intimidating and you've had to really sort of step above your your own sort of instincts to get involved in that in that in in that part of the
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process not get involved um cuz I feel like from the beginning I knew I knew exactly what things I wanted to um talk about and I knew I've always known what I like and what I didn't like cuz this wasn't my first time writing really I
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had been writing while I was on tour with withth Harmony um in just like hotels on days off and I couldn't wait to just pull up my laptop and well how I did it before was I would take like instrumentals to songs and I would just use like the Cor progressions to write
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over cuz I didn't have access to be in studios with producers um so I had been writing for i' had been developing my voice as a songwriter for a really long time for like 3 years before I actually went into a studio to make songs did you feel like you had to do that Secrets a
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strong word but privately because you're in a band and you know it's all for one and one for all at that moment you're on that journey together and then in your downtime you're kind of honing something that probably subconsciously whether you
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realized it or not was going to be the next step for you um I feel like I mean I wasn't afraid I feel like I was always um outspoken about being a song about loving songwriting even while I was in the group but I definitely felt like you know Fifth Harmony we were all vehicles
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for the group's identity it wasn't necessarily like a form of self-expression right um and I feel like being around the people that were crafting these songs for us I just was really curious about H like you know I was just curious about that whole
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process and I felt like that along the way became my way of just understanding how I felt about situations like my first kiss when I was 16 my first heartbreak when I was 17 at least you got those two out of the way quick right exactly but all of that
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stuff I I I love the idea of creating just like Sonic photographs for moments of my life but um I felt like I already going into this had my voice as a songwriter but I know what you're saying about like you know doing it in private because nobody else knew that that was
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it's almost being respectful to other people's feelings because maybe and I'm not saying because I know that Lauren's been writing other people are doing their thing and we're starting to see them we start to evolve in their own way but at that moment in time you're in the
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eye of a very different storm I mean you talked about it it's it's come from a manufactured television show which which is designed to make something big very quickly now what you do with that opportunity is your life exactly but at that moment in time whilst you're under
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contract it's kind of it's your life with you know conditions and exactly you've got to be kind of respectful right of other people's feelings at that moment in time because if you're running around going guys I wrote four songs last night they're eventually going to
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go where are these gonna go yeah exactly exactly no and it was never something like that cuz I felt like always the style that I was writing was I'm not even sure if that happened subconsciously um but it was completely different than the songs that
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Fifth Harmony was putting out like the songs that we were putting out like work from home and worth it was very like bossy confident like girl empowerment and mine were like say or songwriter it wasn't anything that the group would be able to it would just like not make
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sense cuz it was too personal to me we're going to talk about your music in a second and we're really going to dive into some of these songs that have come out and songs that are going to come out but I feel that you know there are there
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are there's an opportunity we have here first opportunity that we could we've had to talk so you know when you're in the eye of that when you're dealing with that kind of success that comes you know with conditions as I mentioned before at
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what point do do do you realize that the part's over for you at what point do you realize like I'm not going to be able to see this out in the same way the others are I need I need an early check out yeah um I think that happened to me as I was discovering my voice as an artist um
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especially as a songwriter I just felt like I needed to express that and it was just time to you know sing my story and sing words that were coming from my heart as opposed to you know words that people you know were writing for us and
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how important was mom and family cuz I know you've got a very tight family relationship here right now yeah that's right and I mean you know obviously you look to your family at those moments and say hey look you know maybe there's a little turmoil going on here and I mean
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and of course it's it's I mean it's scary um but my mom has always taught me that you know when you're afraid that's when you have to make the jump otherwise you'll be stuck in the same place your whole life and you always regret what you didn't do um and you know I my mom
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has been like a firsthand example for that like she you know leaving Cuba and you know just obviously having that fear inside of her like she's really LED um by example for me in that way and she was you know my family has always been like we've had to start over from
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scratch so many times not knowing what was going to happen next and obviously me leaving the group at that point in time when we were really the most successful is not the safe option you know what I mean the safe thing would have been to just stay and to keep
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singing the songs and keep doing the choreography um and who knows if this is going to be successful for me like nobody really knows you know but um I just know that I'm proud of it and I'm so happy to be making music that's you know authentic to me um and that I'm
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going to look back on and and be super proud of so I mean there's there's another group that can really relate yeah right and and then some I mean if you think about the success the One Direction went through it's like a whole other ball
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game right right but still um you can look to them and say okay you know similar circumstances similar similar jump off similar level of success and then took it to a whole other which is where I'm sure the four remaining members of this band will want to take
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it of course um did you look at what Zayn did as as like a did you say Okay well if he can do it you know if he can bounce if he can make a decision that's right for him irrespective of the of the of the KnockOn effect it may have for
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fans or for this band then maybe there's a reason to do this I mean I don't think that influenced my decision but I was definitely like hey like you go Zane because pillow talk I mean when that came out I was like damn this is so good it can be done yeah it can it can be
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done and I like that it was so different than anything that One Direction had done um and obviously it's super interesting um I mean I was like a huge One Direction fan they're like the reason that I tried out for X Factor so how did you feel when he lived I cried
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not going to lie um because it's the end I mean it's the end of an era it's the end of an era and you know obviously like I literally you understand like I had like a Twitter account for One Direction um like I was like one of those fan girls at one at
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one point um so you know it's the end of something that's really beautiful and inspired so many people it was it was you know it was a dream just like you know Fifth Harmony you know the five of us were a dream to our fans um and it's
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beautiful so obviously when anything comes to an end it's you know it's emotional for everybody um but it's also exciting cuz you're like okay what is he like what does he want to say and I think that's why you know him and all the other boys NY and Harry and Louie
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and Liam now coming out it's like oh now you get to see who the people were inside that group um and I think that that's just as exciting let's talk about crying in the club yeah this is the first record that you've dropped right here because this is the first statement
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that you've made out of all the music that you've made thus far and it's an important statement to make so what is it about the song which makes you feel like you want your fans to hear this first um I mean I feel like that was definitely the part of the healing this
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song um cuz it just has the lyrics are very hopeful um but the beat is very intense cuz that I mean I never just want to make like a straight up Happy song it's just not in my nature sure um but yeah the beat has this very like intense cathartic feeling about it and I
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felt like it was kind of like what the writing process was saying to me like some of the lyrics are like let the music lift you up like you never been so high let the music lift you up like you never been this free it felt like that
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was what this album and this music was needed to happen yeah and it what it was saying to me um and so you'll see the music video for it but the whole thing feels very intense and and cathartic and by the way crying in the club is a wonderful thing if you can dance and cry
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at the same time that's the magic combination true that's what I do in the music video basically are you a good actress um um I don't know but I I mean I feel like how I how I basically my mindset for the music video was just act like who this is about like you're
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talking to them and then I just was crying so yeah I'm not sure if it's acting because it's not like I'm like going to another character it's myself Conjuring up the emotion exactly uh Camila Cabo we're talking to right now on the eve of of of you know an amazing
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personal Journey you're about to go on with all this music that you've been making and you know you talk about how you know I was just tucked away for 4 months making this record like that's still pretty quick like you obviously hit the ground running yeah I mean I
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definitely I feel like I have accumulated enough songs to be like okay this is the sound and this is the direction I obviously it's still it's so hard to walk away from stuff like I'm still like okay when am I going to get back in when am I going to you know
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write again and keep writing cuz it's safe it is safe I mean and I realized that even now going into rehearsals for billboard that it's like you know there's so many people watching whereas in the studio like I actually make it a point to be in the booth where nobody
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can see me and I can't see anybody like while I'm like you know doing the freestyling pass or whatever it is or writing the songs like I like I don't love um starting from scratch writing like in the room like I like for it to be cuz I'm very that kind of person I'm
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like a corner person um but I feel like the stage personality is a different thing like I feel like I tap into a different part of myself myself um but I feel like yeah the studio is definitely a safe place which is why I never want to leave it um and I don't feel like
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this is going to be the type of thing where I make this album and then I'm like not in the studio for a while like I want to constantly be um putting out music that's a modern method the doors wide open for you now and the people who
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opened it you know the the great artists who are doing that now on another level the Dres the beyon you know the people who go and say hey I've got a record I'm going to put it exactly as and win here's a mixtape here here's a song there qu a playlist exactly exactly
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that's definitely more of what I want to do I feel like the hurting the healing the loving is literally I had to make it an album because that is a story you know what I mean like the whole thing ties together um but you know I feel like I'm not going to write about that
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situation again because I've moved on from it like it's it's over um but I feel like you know maybe the next album won't be a story it won't be a concept maybe I'll just put out three songs about whatever you know what I mean so and crying in the club is that kind of
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song where it can kind of pop out and represent itself and also be a part of a greater body of work but it's definitely like one of those modern pop songs yeah I just want to go I want to dive straight into the song that I've heard out of the selection I've that I've
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listened to which is like you like them yeah great and in particular this one I have questions oh yeah which is like I mean that just the hook itself when you rattle through one two and three I mean everybody's had a situation where they
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wanted to kind of put it all into focus and and and to contextualize those issues that you have and to do it in a pop song is hard um and it sounds like that was a Cornerstone for the making of This Record like that was a jump off point
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yeah definitely I mean I felt like before when I was telling you about I felt like I was I went into the studio and I was like okay now I have to make an album and I felt like that was the first time that it was like you know Screw making an album like I need to get
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this off my chest I need to understand this cuz I felt like that was the first time that I was really talking about um you know the feelings the emotion that I was having in that song and I think from then on it felt like like let's say there's like a a water dam right and
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there's like a bunch of rocks and then you the first rock you kind of punch it out of the way and then they all kind of fall out yeah that's what that that song was the initial me punching the first rock yeah originally it was an interlude
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um and I hadn't done the second verse yet and then I was like okay I don't want this to just because I feel like with interludes like there's been many cases where an interlude has been one of my favorite parts of an album and I wish that it could be longer like um James
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joint by Rihanna and so that's basically what did I was like okay I don't want to I I don't want this to be the one where people are like oh man I wish I could put this again so I basically just wrote the second verse like I think like two
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weeks after but originally was supposed to be an interlude um but I definitely it's hard to do that in a pop song which is why that song doesn't have like a pop structure like it's more than a pop song that it to me feels like a Manifesto for the album if that's what you're going to
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say yeah exactly like it's not like we didn't write it like okay here's the verse here's the pre here's the chorus um but I feel like the most part of music is just making people feel something and it was I had other songs written and that was the that was the
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one that you know I put it on for my mom or my manager and they were all like whoa like they felt something and I was just like that's really all that matters that's really that's the only goal for me is to just make people feel something who makes you feel something which
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artists really connect to you in the Deep Way um I mean Rihanna obviously so well I mean anti was is one of my favorite albums s ever like you know love on the brain and higher when you can just hear that raw just like she's just like broken and that raw think it's
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her best record I think so too I mean that I mean that definitely influenced me a lot like I just felt like that just changed the game of I mean I don't even know if you would say pop music but I mean I feel like that just was so Progressive sounding I mean in the
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production in the songwriting um how it wasn't just like the same you know pop structure um I like that she just made her own rules for that um so yeah definitely Rihanna anti- album made me feel something um Chance the Rapper coloring
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book um same drugs was like one of my favorite songs you making beats yourself I mean I started to when I was on tour cuz I got like a little midi keyboard and I got logic and I um experimented with that for the first time cuz I feel like in the beginning there was no way
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for me to figure out what my sound was cuz I was just writing to instrumental tracks yeah um so there was no way for me to figure out like what my production um taste was which is just as important um so I did I messed around with some um but I definitely definitely in the
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studio like for example like for questions I was like okay what if what if we put that like bum bum bum in there um cuz I knew what I I know what I like from every genre I feel like I've been obsessed with every genre and different phases of My Life um and so I wanted to
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pull like everything that I wanted and just like Franken these groups never have a chance this is the thing I think and whoever puts them together it's a genius meav and Brilliant move of getting artists who don't have a chance no but it's cool
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it's really you know it is what it is man and it's a part of popular culture now you know let's take these artists who on their own may not have as great a shot let's see if we can have this wonderful ride together and we'll do great and they'll do great and
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everything will be great but ultimately you know you always run the risk when you do that of picking four five three two people in this group who are going to go n this is a jump off for me I'm out yeah I want to make beats and I want to go do that and I want to go have some
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control but I definitely don't think I would have discovered that if it weren't for me being in the group in the first place because in the beginning like when I auditioned for xfactor um I wanted to be a singer like I just wanted to sing
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and then throughout the way I was just I just wanted more and I was just like oh I want to be a songwriter then I started writing songs over instrumentals and then I was like oh like I want to make music like I want to you know what I mean I want to be involved in the whole
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process so I feel like I don't think if it weren't for the group like when I was 15 I wouldn't have been like oh I want to I want to make beats I want to like I wouldn't have I wouldn't have um xfactor and the group like broke that shell for me um let's talk about who you worked
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with on this album I mean who can you tell us that you've been collaborating with we know you've done tracks with Charlie obsess with Charlie she's amazing who obsessed with Charlie and can I just say dreamer is like my favorite song ever it's it's really good
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so good yeah she's great and also I think her taking the pressure off making albums and going and doing a mixtape was the best thing it could have happened yeah I mean I have so much respect for her I just think that she's I mean she's
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a real artist she knows what she wants in every aspect and I think it's so cool that you know she takes time to just like write for other people because she loves writing so much and making music so much we hear words we know we hear names like Fel being popped around I
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mean you know just casual um that was insane go on let's talk about it cuz we love him that was crazy so I went in with my um my executive producer Frank Dukes um who oh man who's another incredibly talented young man yeah he's amazing I mean I feel like he changed my
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life honestly well you got him at a good time and you guys found each other at a good time cuz I think you're about to become very busy and we all know Frank is already and about to become even busier I mean he's probably one of the hottest names in the world of production
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and Engineering right now yeah I mean he's amazing I feel like he has such a great taste and he's very um you know he has very like high standards for every aspect of the song making yeah like you know just saying a lyric um it be like M
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that could be better it could be better so it takes us forever to write a song but when it's done were're like like we that Havana song that you heard we wrote the verses for that like three different times and the last time was with Fel I basically tricked him into doing that
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alip track for me because at first he was like um um he was like you know I think it'd be super dope if you did it because you know you're a girl and to do that to you know to have those like the little like kind of wrappy adbs in there would be dope and I was like oh why
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don't you like sketch them out for me and I just kept all of them in there I was like yes but yeah he's he's amazing I mean he basically like when I came in he like played us his um album that he's working on and just starting feeding off
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of that energy is inspiring um what album is that Camila what are we talking about here oops sorry for real sorry P um but yeah just being around that caliber is so inspiring and um just the way that he he takes like obviously Artistry super
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seriously and everything has a purpose like every lyric has a purpose every word has a purpose every you know Adib that he did has a purpose uh we hear that you've been doing some writing and just you have to correct us if we're off the Mark here someone mention ID Sharon
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oh yeah yeah yeah well he he actually he um wrote a song from me um which is really really dope and so then I went in and rewrote um the lyrics to it and basically added like some parts to it um so yeah that that she got to co-write with it yeah so that's pretty crazy it's
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pretty crazy I'm seriously like have always been his biggest fan and he's very well aware of that like a year ago um I went to his concert um he had a concert in Miami and me and my friend went and I was literally front row rapping all the lyrics to you need me I
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don't need you um and we were like friends at the time like he invited me to his concert it must have been really weird for me to be like yeah and then we' just be backstage with him and be like that was really cool yeah yeah I'm sure he loved it I mean at the end of
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the day you want to see people that you know as well as people you don't know down there having fun you know you're striking the right court if that's the case yeah um but to be able to go and do a coite with him what's the song called
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can you tell us that um it was called The Boy The Boy and it has this very um like kind of James Brown funky vibe to it and it's um it's really really fun cuz I feel like you know a lot of the songs um that I wrote are pretty heavy and pretty emotional and I feel like
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that's like a really fun light-hearted um sassy who are we missing Camila who else have you been working with cuz I'm joying this and I and and I love to get your perspective on who else you've been in the studio Ryan tedo is pretty crazy
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God man you just stacking them up it's insane yeah we did two songs together um and he is like he's also one of the people that I feel like we just vibed with like on a personal level um and I felt there's like some people like Charlie um and you know other girl
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writers and also Ryan that I felt so just unafraid to just be super emotional and just be like unfiltered and that they need you to exactly exactly that's what that's what you need to um write a song that sounds like that they wouldn't stick around that'd Uber out of there if
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you would it every yeah but a lot of people I feel like a lot of people do that especially you know just like in in pop and pop top lining it it's easy to be generic and to settle for you know baby I want you right now um it's easy
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to settle for that if the melody is good and the beat is good you know I feel like it you bring it one step further if you're you know careful about what words you choose um so yeah writing with Ryan was amazing and we want to do like a bunch more so the album isn't even a
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complete finished product right now you're still moving things around still moving things around I just don't want to let it go Zane yeah yeah I don't blame you well because you know keep doing it yeah because look who you're working with and look what's coming out
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well to be honest with you okay here's the thing I feel like I wrote the hurting and the healing part you now have to finish the loving part I need to find a boy and I need to like go to a party or something right okay you know yeah that's what I no I'm serious that's
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what I need to do I'm waiting on that experience so that I could write about it okay but whoever is listening to this right now that ultimately becomes that boy is going to be like yeah but you just you're just using me to write this
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record you announc you were looking for a boyfriend to finish the loving part where's this going I know but it's the loving it's going to be a happy song right okay good you should be happy about that there's a lot of people who make really good happy music there's
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some amazing people who are able to conjure that emotion uh lyrically and and melodically and production wise as well are there are there people still out there that you'd love to work with that would fit into that category or that you may have on the agenda um I
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mean obviously I love Diplo um and I love major laser and I feel like they're the best at making cuz I don't want to say like happy music because that that doesn't sound like it has like a lot of depth to it but they make just like these you know sexy um Caribbean
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influence Vibes that I love and I feel like that's really part of the loving for me cuz that's a part of that's a part of me too um so I definitely want to do a bunch more with them I mean we've done so many songs um and there's one coming out very soon have you heard
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it no okay never mind oh wait what with with major laser you are the most brilliantly unfiltered human being cool so who else come on who else we've got limited time I can see actually no one's getting restless out there seems like your crowd are pretty happy yeah I know
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which is rare have I dropped any any bombs yet have I said anything that's going to get me in trouble yet they were high-fiving each other at one point which I feel bad for you I feel like we need to high five you because you've seen the Montage it's the greatest thing
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of all it's one of the greatest of all time it's honestly I was so secondhand embarrassed for myself oh my God no because we've all been there listen I've had quite a few hanging High FIV but not as much as I have Zan that was painful
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to watch you have to admit I don't have a montage you don't have a montage you can get high fives here at beats one whenever you want okay good um this album when do you want it out obviously this year at what point for the summer I mean I think September I think September
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I think people are going to have to like rip it out of my hands any guest appearances anybody like vocally going to come join you on this record yes but I'm not ah she's finally learned I shouldn't have dropped that explosion I mean yeah you totally want to tell me
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one no can't tell you totally do sorry I can't tell list to the tone of your voice you just I mean it you were just like I mean okay this is what I can say You're going to hear something soon that doesn't just have my voice on it rappers
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mhm yeah Fe female or male come on three questions and see how close I can get it's a male it's a male it's a male yeah I got two more questions okay I have questions I got two more questions from Atlanta I'm not going to say anymore you you've already gotten you've already
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gotten too much out of your game I got one more question okay my face gives away everything so I'm covering my face you know I think we would like you to come back at some point and do another interview so I'm going to let you off the hook this one time but we know that
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it's a male from Atlanta I am so happy with it the bomb I smashed that oh we're looking forward to that record with Future Okay so let's talk a little bit that's not future that wasn't technically speaking a question I'm really good at this cam you are um you
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know your first musical statement from this forthcoming new album with an album title already out you know um and and performan is happening and everything else I mean your mind state right now no knowing that you're back and in in in
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the public sector on your own terms I'm still off social media like I'm not looking at what people are saying about it because I want to stay in my artist Vibe and the artist Vibe is like I want to be able to just feel as much as I as I can and I'm you know reading poetry
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and watching movies that inspire me um and that are artistic because I always want to stay connected to the art and I don't want to get up on stage like at the billboard and feel like I'm performing at the Billboards I want to feel like it's my message um
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to you know who who I'm talking to in this song and it's my I want to make everything personal it's that's how I give um the emotion because for me like like I said this isn't my first album that the world is going to hear to me it's the album that I had to make for
28:18
myself in order to get better and in order to heal and that's how I like to think about everything because if I think about the fact that you know a lot of people are going to be listening to this interview that I'm going to get get nervous and I'm going to be filtered if
28:30
I just think about it as you know me talking to somebody about you know how I felt during this process then I feel more comfortable so that's kind of the mind frame that I'm trying to stay in I'm trying to just stay as Pisces as possible