In 2017 when cillacritic.com was just opened under the name valxx.com, Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao was one of the musicians that featured in its critic reviews. Havana was a major hit song crossing borders. Since the release of that song and a few projects, Romance Album is the first album that has brought her under our radar. Camila is a decent musician whom I feel has a lot of luck on her side. She has become a global sensation by doing almost same thing others have done. Cabello is not a musical genius but she is a maestro in her own right judging from her accolades and followership.
Romance is a good album because it made me change my review just as I played each track. However, the album is not a great album or even a classic. The problem I was detecting for this album was the lack of a originality. The album was flat for me until I listened to “Liar”, “Should ve said it” and “Senorita” which featured Shaw Mendez. It was like Camila was going way off from her Latino influenced songs to a purer version of RnB, Ballad and Blues. I was disappointed but after listening to the above named songs, I had to applaud her and her song selection team. This album would have lacked her imprint if the above songs were not there. It would have made the album sound like another musician made it. I am a good lover of camilo’s music and I always look forward to the trumpets, Charango guitar, claps and Acoustic guitar sounds. The Mariachi sound gives it a definition and identity.
THE THEME
Romance is a love music album with the usual tales that comes with it. I am particularly drawn to the song “First Man”. The is a song that paints a picture of her appreciating her dad as the first man to really love her. “Bad kind of Butterflies” is another song that begins with some suspense added to it. It talks about a lady who reveals to her boyfriend that she likes him but has fallen in love with another guy. The funny thing about this story is that her boyfriend has always known this supposed new lover as “just a friend of hers”. Some really good story telling.
“Dream of You” is a ballab com RnB vibing song which could drive one into naturally loving it. I could say it is one of the best songs in this album. It talks about being in love with guy and always wanting to be around the person. Kind of reminds of Rita Ora’s 2018 album. “Dream of you” is another really nice work coming from this project. Working solo on so many of the songs in this album got mixed with feature with Shaw Mendez.
In summary the stories behind the love songs are good but the delivery might just make people get tired of the album quickly.
THE PRODUCTION
Normally I do not blame producers because I am of the theory that good songs give birth to good beats. But the Romance album has good songs which are lyrically good but with poor production. Sequencing a beat is a difficult job but has a way of showing a job horridly done. There is lack of experimentation and no level of adventure. Beat making, mastering and mixing is an art but this album sound usual for an artist like Camila.
The producers did not give their best for this album. Although camila created some good songs, the music producers refused to work hard on their job. This might cost this album sales because before the voice there is always the beat.
POSSIBLE HITS AND FLOPS
Apart from the already released singles from this album, First Man, Should have said it and other songs mentioned in this article could become a hit based on the message of the song. Camila’s fans may try to make it trend for while but there is hardly any song on this album that can become a massive hit in the USA let alone a global hit. None of the songs in this album are classics. I will appreciate if she changes a few of her production team.
