Camila Cabello on Why She Left Fifth Harmony, Shawn Mendes, and Those Drake Rumors

In particular, despite having broken up in November 2021, Cabello and Mendes were spotted locking lips at Coachella in April 2023. This immediately sparked reconciliation rumors, but it looks like that wasn’t to be.

Then, in December 2023, Cabello was living it up in Turks and Caicos with Drake. The pair were photographed enjoying time together while jet skiing, as well as chatting it up on a yacht. Of course, this brewed even more speculation.

All the while she’s been working toward her as-yet-untitled fourth album, which apparently tied heavily into at least one of those experiences. Cabello opened up about it all with host Alex Cooper, which you can listen to in its entirety below.

It turns out that creative differences was the reason behind Cabello’s departure from Fifth Harmony in 2016, though it was a little more nuanced than that. It could also be argued that she’d just evolved musically beyond that group dynamic.

“I can remember waking up on tour and going to my hotel room at like 7 a.m. and going to my garage band and like writing songs, ’cause I didn’t want to do it while everybody was there and I had such a passion that turned into writing,” she recalled, per E! News.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh maybe I wanna write for other people,'” the “Havana” singer continued. “But then it turned into like, ‘No, actually I want to sing these songs by myself.'”

As such, Cabello said she could feel herself distancing from “the group vision.” She noted, “It felt like they were still really passionate and into that and so, I was just like, ‘I’m not happy here anymore, it doesn’t feel aligned.'”

That’s not to say she didn’t remain supportive of the group even after she left, until it disbanded two years later, or that she doesn’t have positive memories of that time in her life. “I feel like I can really focus on and remember the really joyful times,” she said. “I grew a lot in that group.”

Despite breaking up in 2021, Cabello was spotted kissing Shawn Mendes at Coachella in 2023. As she explained it, she’s a “fan” of getting back together with an ex, also crediting her impulsive nature.

And if anyone were to tell her she should never go back to an ex, that’s going to backfire on them spectacularly. “I’m not someone that you can forbid things from because I’ll want to do it more,” she emphasized.

She also argued that one breakup sometimes isn’t enough to know for sure if that relationship wasn’t the one. After all, a breakup can be one of those impulsive decisions, so revisiting a relationship can offer additional clarity.

“You need to know it isn’t going to work, and you need to be like, I did it and I know,” she argued. That’s what happened with her and Mendes, she explained, saying that after reconnecting, they both realized they just weren’t a “fit.”

“Luckily, I was in a place in my life where it took me less time to realize that,” she explained. “It took us both less time to be like, ‘This doesn’t feel right, and we really don’t need to try so hard to make it work.'”

Even with that realization, though, it wasn’t a bad experience. “He’s such a good person and I’m lucky, you know, because some people have exes that are awful and he is not,” she said. “He’s a really kind and good person when you rekindle.”

The “Señorita” singer is also not worried about moments like that going viral because it’s all about doing what feels right in the moment, then dealing with what comes next.

“First of all, I wouldn’t say, like, straight up vacation,” Cabello said of being spotted with Drake. “It was vacation. Plus some work.”

When Cooper asked her to maybe confirm if they ever had a thing, Cabello replied, “Have I ever had what a little thing with a beautiful artistic collaboration with him? Yes, I may or may not have.”

In other words, it doesn’t sound like she’s quite ready to spill the beans on what may or may not be a thing with Drake. She and the rapper were spotted on a jet ski together in Turks and Caicos back in December, as well as on a yacht.

While Cabello stayed mum on any possible relationship with Drake, she did offer how she wound up out there with him. As she explained it, Drake was a big inspiration for her new album, so she reached out to him to see if she could play it for him.

“So we hung out, I played him my album,” she said. “He loved it … it was also such a surreal moment for me to play Drake my songs,” adding that she would have never expected this could be her life.

“It’s a dream. I remember being there and being like, wow, this is so f–king sick and he’s so generous and so kind and– but anyway, so I didn’t like just go on vacation with him,” she added. “It was like a vacation, like, work thing. But honestly, I will say I love him. And that has been such a fun part about this whole experience.”

As for the prospect of dating, Cabello said she’s kind of all over the place right now, calling it “different phases” that she cycles through.

“Like two weeks ago. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I want to really have something real with someone. I’m ready. I’m ready. I’m ready for something real again,'” she said. “And then I am, like, talking and meeting someone new and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I love this. This is so fun. I don’t want anything serious right now.'”

For now, her focus has been on readying her first album under new label Interscope Records, after parting ways with Epic Records in September 2022. Camila Cabello’s untitled fourth studio album is anticipating a release in late 2023 or early 2024.