Camila Cabello says Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran are her songwriting “heroes”.
The star approached both musicians early in her career for advice and praised them both for being open to mentoring her.
She said: “I’ve been lucky to have people at different times show me kindness. When I was like 16, 17, and I was still in Fifth Harmony, I fell in love with songwriting. I remember approaching Taylor Swift and being like, ‘Hey, what do you do when you’re in a writing slump?’ or whatever, asking her for advice, and she showed me a lot of kindness. Ed Sheeran too. These were my songwriting heroes, so I was stoked that they were even talking to me.”
Camila also talked about how “special” it is to make her family proud with her music.
The 24-year-old singer recorded the song ‘Lola’ with Cuban artist Yotuel – whose single ‘Patria y vida’ became an anthem for the protests in Cuba following food and medicine shortages, as well as power outages, while COVID-19 cases are still on the rise – for her upcoming album ‘Familia’.
And Camila revealed that “tapping” into her Cuban roots has been particularly meaningful for her and her family.
She told The Hollywood Reporter: “The feedback I’ve gotten that means a lot to me right now? For my latest album, tapping into my family, my roots, my heritage as a Cuban and Mexican woman: I wrote a song with Cuban artist Yotuel called ‘Lola’. Talk about music being powerful — this accompanied a movement which gave the Cuban people the bravery, for the first time in like 60 or 70 years, to go out into the streets and fight [as part of anti-government protests that began July 11]. And my mom and grandparents and cousins hearing it and crying and being like, ‘Damn, she’s really f****** giving a voice to our people’ — to make my family proud, that’s special.”