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Camila Cabello on new album 'C,XOXO', switching up her sound and her love of 00s hip-hop | In Depth
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Feb 9, 2025
Camila Cabello is back with a new sound, a new attitude and an upcoming new album, 'C,XOXO'. Celia Almeida meets the superstar for our May 2024 Cover Story. Check out the article on The Forty-Five https://thefortyfive.com/interviews/camila-cabello-interview-2024/
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[Music] hi I'm s ala and I'm here with Camila
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caveo for the 45 Camila thank you for uh speaking with us today yes thank you for having me so
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we're talking a little bit about um your new record and kind of like um some of
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the the different uh sound the different Aesthetics that you're showcasing on this record um uh you've discussed a
0:25
little bit about the comfort that you felt with the um the producers that uh
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you worked with on this record I know you worked with elino like how did you guys link up um he his trajectory
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musically is so fascinating to me so how did you guys link up well his trajectory trajectory was
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fascinating to me also um and you know I loved rosalia's albums I
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loved I loved Moto Mami um and I was just like wow this is like some of my
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favorite pop music like I've ever heard it was like so forward thinking and so fresh and so it was like in the
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beginning where I was just kind of trying people out um and I had worked with like a few different producers in
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different in different Realms um maybe like some in the kind of American world
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and then um you know some more like in the you know kind of afrob beat space and some more like you know people that
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were living in Miami me um but I definitely wanted to work with him because I knew he would kind of have
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like a fresh take on pop music based on his like previous work and so I texted
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him the first time I actually cancelled the session because I forgot I think I
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was just like I had just come in from traveling from somewhere and I was too tired and I was like afraid that he was
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annoyed but he wasn't and then um and then the next time we H out um we were
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talking about uh just like you know I was listening to a lot of like afro beats
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I've always listened to a lot of Afro beats but you know he is from the Canary Islands he um also kind of like loved
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that music we had a lot of the same like tastes in in music and immediately we
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were just like trying things that were different and new for me and that that always feels the most exciting to me
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when I'm working with someone who doesn't want to like you know do up part three but who
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wants to see me take me to I don't know like go to places that are unchartered
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territory for me and who finds that challenge to be the most
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interesting and the most satisfying as opposed to just like let's make like an you know like a whatever like a big
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catchy pop song like more taking it to a place of like what would be new and
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interesting and challenging and exciting so I think he he and Jasper
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both kind of have the same are motivated by the same
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things yeah which it's really interesting because um like obviously
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his work with Ralia is Legend but um it you know she Moto momy was like a really
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crazy turn too for her um like compared to Mar and obviously her
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very straightforward flamco stuff um so it seems like he's kind of not afraid to
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um be a weirdo you know and totally yeah and
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so you said you were kind of toying around with other producers like what what sealed the deal for you about it
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being him and like did you did you have the kind of sound that you wanted in
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mind already or was it something that developed out of you guys being in the studio I think it definitely developed out of
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all of us being in the studio we definitely we tried a lot of different corners of the Sonic landscape there was
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some that was kind of like more like you know El Ino proba would like get on some
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live drums and there was somebody like playing bass and you know and then you know we were
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trying you know like Brazilian a Brazilian Funk Vibe like we really
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explored until we found the kind of musical landscape and and language of of
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the album but I think what it was about Pablo was I think he just like has such great
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taste and you know he's such a kind of
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Ruthless um I don't want to say editor because I feel like that's um not like a a big
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enough word to encapsulate um what he does but like you know things that other
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people think is like oh that's good like a great catchy song he's like yeah but is it different is it pushing things
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forward is it something we've already heard before um or that line that line I feel like that could be better like you
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could do better you could give more color to that line he's just very like ruthless in terms of his taste and I
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think that that made me a better songwriter and made me a better artist and at the same time he's very
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like I don't think he cares about what's GNA make like you know the the the kind
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of biggest song on the radio at that time if it's following Trends he really believed in me kind of
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taking on the bulk of the kind of like songwriting duties and being like you
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know you can do this on your own because my favorite stuff is when it's really
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like coming from you and I think you I think that like belief like I I I think
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it's really how much he challenged me is what I think made him the person for me
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because a lot of other people you work with a lot of people who are like yeah that's great that's great this is awesome this is awesome and I think he
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and Jasper are very critical which I think makes the work so much
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better like yeah have you been pushed in that way before by other producers or
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was that kind of new for you no some people yeah and those are usually my favorite people to work with I I
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remember with Frank it was like that with Frank it was it was like that too
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um with Ricky it was like that really every main producer that I've worked with on a project has had that in common
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where you know I don't like working with people who just like yes everything even though obviously it feels great in the
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moment and you're like yeah I obviously want you to tell me like that's great that's great that's great I'm doing
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great but it doesn't really produce the best work it's much better when someone's like yeah you've done this before or yeah but you know and and I
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think like yeah and I start to like I think it just sharpens your ears and your sense
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of uh of editing yourself which I think is like I think that's like the most
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important thing is like being challenged even though it's like it's like everything in life it's like so paradoxical it's like the worst feeling
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but it's also the best you know it's like not the most comfortable feeling
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but it really it makes you grow how do you know when
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something has gone beyond you guys around with like new sounds in the studio and gone into something that
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you want to share with the world like what is that moment I think like you know there were
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different moments where I was like especially early early on before we had kind of established the kind of Sonic
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language of the album there were songs where I was like this is a really great song and I would show it to my friends
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and they would really like it but I think like it's just like a feeling in your
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body when you know that I don't know things just start coming together and you're like this is
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not just a great song by itself but it fits into this larger world and other things start coming alive too like you
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know colors or clothes or life performances or little details that are
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like oh the music is really making other things kind of come alive
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and I think like I I really think like as an artist like you always have to be
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studying people that have like done great great work because then you're like I know this is
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good but it's not like good enough and it pushes you to kind of keep going
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until you're like oh I would you know this is this stands up to like where my taste is at at this point and your taste
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I think as you get older gets better and better and more refined and especially for me like I feel
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like being you know coming to the states when I was like seven and you know
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having Latin parents I wasn't exposed to a lot of like a lot of American music or
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a lot of like the great artists like I was watching like you know the Beatles documentaries or the be's or Nina Simone
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documentary and that was music that I wasn't really exposed to before like we just really grew up listening to like
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Michael Jackson and like Latin artists you know yeah I think expanding your
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references is like has been really important for me yeah it's uh really
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interesting like when when I listened to Familia like I remember just having grown up like
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um kind of I mean I was born here but you know the there's a familiar familiarity with your story of course
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yeah absolutely and when I listen to Familia I remember like I immediately thought of like Celia Cruz I thought of
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like um and obviously Celia is is on the on the which was exciting for me because that's my name yes yes and then also
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that one that one was about you actually oh okay thank you I have confirmation hear that
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everyone and U and and but I thought about like you know Gloria Stefon like a
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album you know like yeah that I grew up listening to and what I thought was
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interesting about this record is that I feel like it shows kind of like that
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Familia to me shows like kind of the um the influences of the music that you're coming up with when you're growing up
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with your family yes absolutely yes this shows like when you start going on this
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record start shows kind of like when you start going out on Joy rides with your teenage you know what I mean in Miami so
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like what were some of the um influences like you were just talking about you
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know um going back and kind of studying uh the the the artists that
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really inspired you that push things what were some of the reference points that you were looking to when you were putting together this
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record well I love that you said that because I think a lot of people are like well familiar to this it's like so
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different and it's like actually I feel like it was actually for me what felt like on the inside a very authentic
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Evolution because you're right like Familia was kind of me digging further my heels further into like the soil that
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I feel like made me and those songs that you know I can be like I have these
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sensory memories of my parents playing these songs in the living room and I
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intentionally went back and try to kind of pay uh like an homage to
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that part of my life and then I think this album is like you said it's like kind of like it's such a such a common
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story for kids from Miami it's like you have one foot in the door of like your parents Homeland and and and your
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family's culture and then this really interesting combination of another foot in the room of America and like American
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culture and Miami makes that a very unique
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subculture um and so yeah I think like for me it was one studying and expanding
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my references in terms of like you know I would go and listen to like Classic Albums that I had
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never heard of before um that I never heard before like you know Pink Floyd or
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the Beatles or um you know like kind of like Classics
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but then at the same time like for example in Miami when I was in elementary school it was like
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that era of like 2000s hip hop and R&B and you know like Tay and you know
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songs that I knew the songs but I didn't know the artists um like going back and listening
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to their albums and looking at you know the Netflix documentary of like a
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hip-hop Evolution and seeing where these songs that I have these like memories of
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listening to the songs but not knowing kind of like where all of that came from
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historically and musically in America so yeah I think it was just kind of like
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expanding things that I already that I liked but I did wasn't knowledgeable
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about I'm glad you said that because like one of the biggest um takeaways
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that I had from previewing the record was like how big of an influence hip-hop is on this record um like I I feel like
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I definitely caught that kind of like 2000's hip-hop influence but also not to
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give too much away but you have some contemporaries on there and contemporary influence yeah right um
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so did that come more from you or from working with your producers and it kind
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of working with your producers got you in that mindset or where where did that come from that specifically the hip-hop
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influence I think I think it was a combination of both I mean Jasper and Pablo are both such huge pop heads and
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they speaking of expanding my references they really you know if if I was like
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you know I love you know uh these kind of rappers
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that everybody knows about like that we all know of they would show me five
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underground references that I didn't know about um so for every song that
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maybe I showed them that maybe we've all heard because I grew up listening to like
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honestly I'm I wasn't one of those cool kids that had like like the the very underground taste I really liked
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honestly top 40 and what was popular um and they would show me for for every one
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that I showed them they would show me 10 underground contemporary or they would be like well if you like this song this
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is what this song was inspired by and so I think like really making I I think I
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really got in my like student bag um in this album and like really did the
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the research on like oh I love this song and this sample or this line is actually
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taken from this song that's like from 20 years ago so I think it's a combination I've always like loved rap and I've
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always loved like you know some of the artists that are on
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this album like I'm a huge fan of but I think definitely Pablo and Jasper really
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expanded my my um my knowledge and also I think it's
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like whoever you work with it's gonna like affect the Alchemy of whatever you
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do so if you're working with like people that are huge hip-hop heads you're more likely to like tap into your love for
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that genre and if I'm working with somebody who you know like does sal music I'll probably tap into like
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my the my love for Sala music it's it really is like an Alchemy even though my
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name is on it it really is like you know it's it's collaborative yeah and I mean
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I think um when I love it came out uh That Gucci Man sample I was like where
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did that come from you know what I mean like it was unexpected you know and um
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so being that this album you were kind of having so much fun in the studio um
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I'm sure you've seen like some people I love it like they don't they don't get it and they feel they don't love it they
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don't it um it's like just a sidebar on that I think we're in this time right
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now where um I think when people don't get things then it then like it's a
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timeline where in two years it's camp and then after that it's like a reclaim
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class so reclaim what a reclaim classic you know right kind of reminds me like
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just like the imagery of this record and kind of like the the sonic turn of I love it kind of reminds me this might be
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a weird one so bear with me but um it kind of reminds me of like when Miley CS
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put out her dead pets record um okay yeah and I thought that record was
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definitely very strange but I thought there was a lot of great stuff on it and I was reading about it recently that
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it's kind of been like reclaimed and people realize now that it has like like great stuff on it so when you uh read
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you know like kind of like mixed reactions online are you thinking about all that or is it like a little bit
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scary is it a little bit thrilling like what does that feel like when you read
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reactions like that it's a good question I think in the moment I react in the
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most kind of human uh like visceral immediate where I'm I'm like my feelings
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are a little hurt but then you know especially in the past two weeks I'm like I've kind of gotten off the internet more and more and I can look at
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things with with perspective and you know I I don't take it personally
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because I feel like I'm honestly one of those people that I feel like sometimes
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I get things after other people get them like as a fan as a music fan it's not like the coolest thing to say about
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myself but it's true I mean some things I feel like I'm early and other times you know there'll be a song or an artist
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that everybody loves and I'm kind of like I don't get it I don't get it and then you know maybe like two years later
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or whatever or even songs then afterwards I'm like oh what the was
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I talking about this is amazing so even I'm guilty of that so I don't
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really take it personally and I feel like yeah it's hard when you immediately
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read something that's like not positive you are like dang I wish everybody liked it but at the end of the day it's like I
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feel like the people that enjoy it it's for them and if not then like that's
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okay you know but I think the yeah the reclaimed Classics thing is so interesting because there's I feel like
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so many artists where I feel like their work wasn't appreciated in that moment and that it was I mean this is I don't
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know I don't think this is a reclaimed classic I'm not saying that by any means but even Shameless for example like was
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popular like two or three years after it was released so I don't know I and I
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think that's actually one of the amazing things about the times we're living in now where I feel like Tik Tok is like
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literally the breeding ground for reclaim Classics like it's like songs from you know the 90s or whatever
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like suddenly are number one and they're everywhere and that kind of like is really exciting as an artist because I
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think before it was the scarcity mindset of like if it doesn't work now it will
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be underappreciated and nobody will ever like I love this so much and nobody will ever see it people can get my music like
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long after I'm gone you know which is cool I like that a lot honestly it's
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like less pressure to for it to be like they have to get it right now or they never will it's like no they could get
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it in 10 years or in 50 whatever you know yeah like everything I think Tik
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Tok has like pros and cons as far as the music industry is concerned and I'm sure you know that better than I ever could
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but um yeah like definitely one of the pros is like exactly if somebody didn't
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it used to be like if something didn't hit or register like your label could drop you lost like that's it yeah
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totally it's like you know there there's countless examples now of people who were like all right well then I'll do it
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and then the the label might have dropped them but it hit for people later you know you know um I also think
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there's an element there of like and I'm not sure if this is a question you let me know what you think
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but um I think there's like I always think about like Gaga you know like if
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if people had met her as like you know the piano driven singer songwriter that
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she was in college how would they have reacted when she started doing electropop they probably would have
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thought it was inauthentic right um right uh they maybe they might not have
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gotten it because they have this expectation of who they were before uh or who she was before and um I think
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with you like people famously met you as a teenager and it's like yeah you're in your 20s you're
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getting all this music per your you know what you were saying earlier and your
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taste change and your influences change um it's just that the whole world is
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watching it and everyone has like opinions about whether it's too fast or you
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know whatever you know so like what does that feel like for you
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when you have all these about something that's like just personal growth right well I think it's important
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to for me like control what I can which is I think first of all it's a fair
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criticism of anybody to make about anybody because it's hard to to stay true to who you are
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at all times and be authentic at all times in this world and especially in in
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this industry because you know there are different parts of you that are like well you know I want to cause a reaction
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I want this I want that or whatever um but I think for me I just like control on checking in with myself constantly
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like why are you doing this and does this feel real to you does this feel true to you are you doing this to get
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some kind of result or are you doing this because it's fun for you and I can I really try to focus on that and
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constantly have to work at you know there's like this quote that I love from
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this like spiritual text of Bhagavad Gita actually yeah and where the quote
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that says like you have the right to basically like you have the right to do
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the work but not to the results of your work and it says it in a more poetic way
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like I think it's like you have the the right to to do your work and it's your duty to do your work but you don't have
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the right to the fruits of your work and it's so easy like I I bet every artist feels this way or and it's something you
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have to constantly work against when you know there's the business side of you that's like oh I'm seeing the numbers
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I'm seeing the this and you know you want to compete in in a certain way like
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you want you know more people to listen to music more people to be invested and whatever but I constantly have to bring
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myself back to I do the work I make sure it feels real to me and fun for me and
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you know if people for whatever reason don't like it don't believe it
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whatever then there's like really nothing I can do about that you know like I think that I also like I don't
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really show a lot of behind the the scenes like you know like I don't have like a behind the scenes like Studio
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person because I feel like then that process becomes performative and
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not sacred and it becomes like you're like oh this is going to look so sick when you know when it comes out
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that I've you know made this hook melody or whatever which you know I'm sure not
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everybody thinks of it that way but I'm like I think that's probably also to be fair maybe why people are like oh where
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did this come from because I don't I'll have like a behind the scenes camera with me in like the year of making the
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album where I'm showing how I got from point A to point G you know um but I
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would but that's like the trade that I make for my sanity and ironically my
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authentic life you know um but I think it's also it's a process like I feel
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like I never think of it as like Just In This Moment it's like building this kind
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of cxo XO world for the next two years and you know it's going to take a second
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I think that's actually really wellp put about how it's kind of the inverse of what people are are thinking it's
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actually that's how you keep your authenticity like that's really wellt
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that's always how feel like in like the world it's always like the opposite of what people think it's like it's funny
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well let's say no one got it at least one person got it which is Lana Del
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yeah for real you got to perform on Coachella with her and she like publicly
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is just talking about how much she loves that song and like just like you know pushing it as an artist like it's that's
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like the biggest coign ever like what does that feel like biggest cosign ever I mean it's so ridiculous like
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I I just like to me she is
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like I really feel like one of the greatest artists of all time and I say
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that with my chest like I just feel like she is
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so I just can't and the the fact that she was like you know she was so
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generous and like posted about I love it I I mean I think she just genuinely really like the song and you know she
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was like I literally made this Loop of the cor the car video that you posted because I couldn't stop listening to the
27:22
song I was like girl I could have just sent it to you you didn't have to make like your own homemade Loop um but it's
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just like it it feels so crazy to really like have her embrace me as an artist
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and embrace the song and and post it like I just think she's she's like when I talk about like
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studying like the greats and how they do things she's like one of those people for me
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um yeah and she's also just like so genuine and Sweet and So speaking up
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authentic like so authentic what was that like for you after you wrapped the song on stage like
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she like came over and like sang You the song and like was like very genuinely
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showing you love like what did that feel like I mean my first thought is I was like what like I don't my impostor
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syndrome was like at 300 I'm like what I feel like I'm like robbing
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something from a store like I'm getting away with something I'm like what did I do to deserve all of this this
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kindness um and you know immediately when I got off stage I was like guys did
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I look so awkward during that part because I was just like suddenly it was like you know there was like the it was
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like me performing and then suddenly I was like it just like Star ryed looking at her like so awkward because I was
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just in shock I was like I can't believe she's singing this song to me right now she
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also I feel like is one of those people that even if she wasn't an artist or a famous person
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you would be kind of like taken aack if you like just met her at a coffee shop she has such a
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like magical like Charming like presence like even like just her
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facial expressions I don't know there's just something really special about her I think we're like um wrapping up on
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time sadly because I feel like I talk to you about this stuff like a lot longer um me too but
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um I think uh I just have to say that I think it's pretty um it's it's like
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exciting to watch like when an artist is like very committed to experimentation sonically and Visually
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um you know I think it's going to be really cool for you to look back and
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see you know that you did something that kind of made people stop and think a bit
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you know what I mean because you did the unexpected you know um and you know so
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having said that like what do you see for this um for this kind of like era
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that's coming up like do you want to tour it do you wanna yeah are is that
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kind of in the works are you thinking about that yeah I definitely want to tour this album because I feel like it's
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like this is the first time I'm like I feel like if I were a fan I would just
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like want to be a part of this world like the kind of like cxo
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XO world and like aesthetic it's just like feels so fun it feels so fun even
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for me to tap into more of that energy you know um and it feels like very kind
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of in in my own way like I don't really like the the word positive because it
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sounds so like clinical but like it feels very like empowering to myself and to like what I you know
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hopefully other people to just like tap into this kind of like baddy energy um
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and I'm just like excited for that to kind of keep taking a life of its own yeah and because I feel like like my
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way of I don't know like being of service to the world even though it sounds like
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I don't know like my favorite artist especially my favorite female artists make me feel strong and empowered and it
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feels cool that I feel like I've taken inspiration from that and hopefully I can do that for people with this album
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because that's definitely very much the goal to two quick quick little things
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that I wanted to talk to you about that um which was um like I know um being
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like a Latina there's all these like expectations of propriety that people
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put on us you know and like what you know what is that like when you you know
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put out songs that are a little bit racier or that kind of thing like is that something that's in the back of
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your head ever is your family very like understanding yeah I think it's like you
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know I you know funny enough I I think it does come back to authenticity I
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think it's like checking in with yourself checking in with your intentions am I doing this to you know
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because I want more attention or am I doing this because it's an authentic fun expression of my sensuality
32:28
and you know maybe one out of 10 times I'm human and it might be the first one
32:35
but nine out of 10 times is the second one so I feel like that's like good enough you know um but I think my my
32:43
family I I'm just like for me more than I always try to keep it in the broader
32:49
context of my life as opposed to music and making sure that I'm the the person
32:55
that I want to be you know because that's what it's about it's like the Journey of of life and becoming more and
33:02
more who you are so to me this this album and and music is just a tool for
33:07
that but I think like I never want to like get it mixed up you know the other way around where who I am is just a tool
33:14
for music or for Success like I I always wanted to be like my work is in service
33:21
to my whole life and and um the last thing I did want to ask you about which was that
33:28
um the record um is very much I would say like
33:34
a love letter to Miami um and your your last record was like a love letter to
33:39
family um I I think not to put stuff in your mouth but um oh yes true yes um but
33:47
this one feels like such a love letter to Miami in so many ways that people will hear and see um why do you think
33:55
you why did you want to do that right now and I definitely think it aligns with baddy energy I have to say I love
34:03
that that makes me so happy well I've spent so much time I I never moved out of Miami but the last few years I've
34:08
really spent more and more time there and more time exploring the city and like more and
34:14
more of my family has like moved you know from Cuba so we're kind of like all
34:20
in the same place and I really feel like you know it's almost like the first step is like my family and my roots but Miami
34:26
is like a place that you know took our families in and I feel like it's like it's very
34:33
beautiful to personify a place like that you know um and to be like you know that
34:40
city has like welcomed kids like us and people like us like with open arms and I think it makes it different from any
34:46
other place in the United States and you know I love the articles that I've seen it's it's like you know there's like
34:51
Miami English because of the you know like different ingredients of you know
35:00
immigrant Spanish and immigrant English and I just find that so interesting and
35:06
it feels nice to be able to claim that as a place that I belong to
35:12
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