Before her solo debut and exit from Fifth Harmony was announced, Camila Cabello spoke with Lena Dunham for her Lenny newsletter and Women of the Hour podcast, speaking on social media, politics, and being sexualized as a teenaged popstar.
Cabello credited her mother during the interview for helping her keep her sanity and keeping things in perspective. She says her mother’s perspective as a Cuban immigrant and her advice to stay away from social media helped keep her grounded and served as a reminder as to what is important in life.
“The best decision that I’ve taken in my career thus far has been this year I’ve just stayed away from social media,” Cabello said. “I don’t go on it, and I just keep myself focused on getting better and growing as an artist and finding different ways to grow as a person. It’s just kept me grounded, and I don’t have 1,000 people thinking that they didn’t like my shoes.”
Cabello also talked about the 2016 election, as it was her first year as a voter. As a Latina, Cabello said that she “felt a responsibility to stick up for my people and my culture.”
“Now and forevermore, I’m going to stick up for immigrants and I’m going to stick up for Hispanic people and their rights,” she said. “I feel like that’s just my job.”
When Dunham asked about the pressure for Cabello and other young women to “present themselves as full-time sex symbols,” Cabello admitted that this has also been a concern for her during her career.
“Especially with being a girl group, there’s been a lot of times where people have tried to sexualize us to just get more attention. Unfortunately, sex sells,” she said. “There’s definitely been times where there’s stuff that I have not been comfortable with and I’ve had to put my foot down. There’s nothing wrong with showing sexuality. If you have that inside, it’s just an expression of who you are. If you want to share that with people, that’s amazing. I love that. Look at Rihanna. She’s so sexy. She comes from Planet Sexy. I worship her. I really, really do.”
Listen to the full interview here:
