Camila Cabello drops long-teased single ‘I Luv It’ featuring Playboi Carti
The new track includes a sample and interpolation of Gucci Mane's 2009 song 'Lemonade'
By Tomás Mier
Camila Cabello‘s hyperpop era has officially started.
On Wednesday, the pop star dropped “I Luv It,” the first single off her upcoming album and of her long-picked-apart new era that commenced when she dyed her hair bleach blonde.
“Certain things in our human realm do make me feel like I’m in outer space, and the very rare few times where I’ve had incredible chemistry with someone is one of them,” she said in a press release. “Part of that cocktail is also the emotional drama between you and that person, and the chaos and butterflies and nerves and passion. It’s unsustainable and not peaceful and exhausting, but also, I love it.”
The Nicolás Méndez-directed video opens with Cabello eating chocolate cake before showing different scenes of the singer in different nightmare sequences: sprinting away from dogs, getting beat up in a wrestling match, holding onto a palm tree, and getting into a car accident.
“Super twisted, sick addicted/Kiss me hard, someday you’ll miss this/Seein’ stars, oh my God,” she sings before the chorus, which hears Cabello repeat the track’s title.
The video then fast-forwards to Cabello dancing to the song while wearing a blindfold and meeting up with Playboi Carti inside a bodega.
‘I Luv It’ also features a sample from Gucci Mane‘s ‘Lemonade’ in the post-chorus when Cabello repeats the line “Lemons on the chain with the V-cuts” from the original song and laces in Mane’s ad-libs from the original song. (The ad-libs are reminiscent of Subway Surfer sound effects.)
After sharing a new blonde hairdo, Cabello began teasing “I Luv It” for weeks. She also posed for photos with Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler during a game as he wore a jersey with the song’s title on the back.”
Along with appearing on the cover of Paper (where she revealed that she’s working with Rosalía producer El Guincho), the singer stopped by Call Her Daddy to talk about her headline-making split from Shawn Mendes and Fifth Harmony. “It felt like they were still really passionate and into that, so I was just like, ‘I’m not happy here anymore. It doesn’t feel aligned,’” she said of the latter breakup.
The singer spoke to Rolling Stone in November and shared a brief update about the possibility of upcoming music. “I’m always scheming, but I won’t say too much about it because I love a calculated surprise,” she said before playing coy when asked if the music was ready. “I can’t say anything,” she added.
Cabello released her album Familia last summer, featuring songs such as ‘Psychofreak’ with Willow, ‘Bam Bam’ with Ed Sheeran, and ‘Don’t Go Yet.’