Havana - Camila Cabello ft Young Thug (SONG REVIEW)

                             

So, people are starting to like Camila now?

I remember just a year ago when Work From Home was big and Fifth Harmony actually mattered, EVERYONE was against Camila. Talking about how nasal she sounded, calling her one of if not THE worst singer in pop music, saying how "if she left the group 5H would be better". So, when she DID leave the group (which by the way, doing it in the shadiest, shittiest way possible), a bunch of you sided with her? I don't get it. But anyways, while Crying In The Club did absolutely nothing on the charts, her managment team decided "We have no faith in your fanbase at all to buy your album, so we need to squeeze out of you. We'll drop these 2 songs collabing with the 2 of the biggest rappers right now, with both songs sounding COMPLETELY different, and pray the charts like them". Basically, Camila dropped 2 songs (one following a trend, one sounding like a functional song), and released them to see what stuck. Turns out, it fuckin worked. CITC was cut from the album, and these 2 are taking it's place. Now I COULD review both of them, but I got multiple people last time saying I was "too hard" and "not fair" on CITC, and you already KNOW I would fucking tear apart a Camila ft Quavo song, so I decided to give the other one (which also happens to be the much bigger one) a fair shot. Even Hedley has their Sympathy, even Weezer has their Buddy Holly, so could my mortal enemy Camila drop a song I actually like?


Well...sorta. Of course, it's always a sorta with me, but especially in this case. To make things easier, let's break this down in a very simplistic way, category by category.

THE PRODUCTION
This sounds fucking FANTASTIC. The shaky drums and percussion play off the deep bass and hypnotizing piano line insanely well. It has a great swing to it, y'know? A great song to just close your eyes and bop your head side to side to. The way those backing vocals are layered are great too, it just sounds brilliant overall. But really, no one cares about that shit, we all care about that fucking trumpet. Holy fuck does it sound good. That's almost undoubtedly reason why this is getting so big: people love a dope ass trumpet, and so do I.

THE OVERALL STRUCTURE
Now structure really doesn't matter THAT much, but it's usually what pushes me to change songs I love into my favourite songs of all time. "The Way" by Ariana Grande for example I wouldn't love as much if it all didn't *feel* right to me. And this song *feels* right to me. Everything is laid out properly, instruments come in and come out and times that make fucking sense, verses and choruses don't feel to long or too short, it all works. It all points out how fucking beautiful the melody is, which really is what all pop songs should strive to do. There is the small nitpick where the song feels like it should end like, 40 seconds earlier than it does, but the more I listened the less that mattered, so overall, everything works, which is good.

THE LYRICS
Considering what a fucking wasteland the lyrics for CITC were, I'm relieved to say that this song is actually written REALLY well. It details Camila in this "bad boy" relationship, of how she keeps getting dragged back and fourth just because she loves this asshole so much, saying no matter where she goes, her heart is trapped in Havana. Then Young Thug comes in and spits a regular brag rap verse rappers would spit on pop songs, but it actually fits if you look it as he's playing this bad boy character, which creates a pretty solid narrative! It's personal (as apparently she DID as a kid go back and forth between places a lot), it's interesting, and obviously entertaining! I can't believe Camila wrote this!

oh wait

SHE FUCKING DIDN'T

Yes, it is indeed too good to be true. Credit where credit is due, she DID write it. It just so happens that so did 8 other people. Since I'm being a positive dude today, let's break this down:

- Young Thug didn't write shit for Camila because lmao he's Young Thug
- both Pharrel & Starrah have backing vocals, so maybe they just did that and were credited for THAT

but that still leaves another 5 writers that helped Camila? It doesn't ruin every word written, but it does make the song a lot less personal, which hits kinda hard considering Camila advertised this album as her "going into her deepest darkest places". Basically, it doesn't make the song any worse, just makes Camila have less integrity, but really, what's new?

So Havana is written well, sounds fucking awesome, and is played out to perfection. I can't believe Camila made a masterpiece! Or well, she ALMOST did!

THE PERFORMANCES
What the fuck happened. How did this happen. Was this a first fucking take or something? I have no idea, but it sure sounds like one. I'm sure this sounds rich coming from me, who very clearly doesn't like Camila's voice to begin with:

"she sounds like she has a 2x4 rammed into her vagina" - Me, Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2016

But even for Camila's standards she sounds fucking AWFUL. Everything she does here is wrong. Half the time she's completely flat, half the time she's completely off key. It's like she can't decide WHAT type of horrible she wants to be. Multiple parts she goes all Ariana Grande and just fucking slurs her words, but instead of the Ari excuse of "well, at least she's hitting INSANE notes!", Camila is just fucking lazy. She ruins the great melody this song has. That "ooooooooo" part of the pre chorus should be heavenly, but instead it's fucking ear piercing.

Then you have Young Thug, who isn't nearly as bad as Quavo is on OMG, but certainly just as lazy. I mean WOW, when you hear Young Thug, whether you like him or, you can at least pick him from a crowd, Thugga has his unique sound. In Havana however, he couldn't give less of a shit. While his words say otherwise, he sounds like he couldn't give less of a shit that Camila is even on this song. Just awful, awful performances.


Overall, this is a massive fuck up. It's like Camila legitimately tried to make this song bad. But, just like most things she does, she failed, because this is still really fucking good. Everything above I said is true. It's not perfect, but you take what you can get. So congrats girl, you made a good song. Or, you PARTICIPATED in one, really.

4/5