Reinvention in the poposphere is tricky, even at the best of times. Subtlety and nuance help, but really it needs to achieve one thing, and that’s to convince the listener that this is a pivot taken for the right reason. With Camila Cabello’s latest effort, C XOXO, the truth is decidedly still out there, along with the jury. If anything, the Cuban-born, Miami-based singer’s fundamentally unconvincing new vibe feels like a movement away from the authentic (albeit weepy, CBeebie blandishments) of yore towards a place of incoherency and label coercion. C XOXO plays out like a piece of poorly-copied homework peeped from Charli XCX, brazenly rebottled and clumsily rebooted. Over the course of 14 tracks Camila free-falls through various other identity crises. It’s a testament to how vital pop music is right now that this album should clunk so resoundingly.
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