(Polydor)
Leaving behind gooey balladry and family-friendly fare, the US star’s reinvention owes a clear debt to Charli xcx but leaves her grasping for space on her own album

The release of I Luv It, the first single from Camila Cabello’s fourth solo album, brought with it something new for the 27-year-old singer: a degree of musical controversy. Ever since her 2017 single Havana sold a staggering 10m copies in the US alone, Cabello has made her way dealing in pleasantly undemanding, low-risk Latin-American pop, the kind of thing that makes its way onto the playlists at Radio 2 as easily as it does Radio 1. Something of the eager-to-please TV talent show contestant she had once been – Cabello first found fame as part of US X Factor semi-finalist girl band Fifth Harmony – seemed to cling to her: her lyrics contained no swearing, she told one US journalist in 2019, because she wanted to be “a good example for younger girls”.

I Luv It was audibly different: a brief burst of wilfully repetitious and tinny-sounding hyperpop that staggered along the line that separates insistent from annoying. Moreover, some people suggested it bore rather too much resemblance to Charli xcx’s 2017 single I Got It, although if you’re playing spot the influence, the offending chorus also seems to have a dash of Ariana Grande’s No Tears Left to Cry in its DNA. Among said voices was that of Charli xcx herself, who posted a parody of Cabello’s announcement video to TikTok, with I Got It replacing I Luv It on the soundtrack: cue the ever-delightful sound of diehard fans arguing with each other online.