Camila Cabello review: Her vocal range gets the full Mariah workout

Camila Cabello

O2 Academy, Glasgow                                                                  On tour until Tue 

Rating:

Camila Cabello makes quite an entrance. Looking like a young Penélope Cruz attending a Dynasty-themed party, in vampy black lace and earrings that very possibly require their own dressing room, the Cuban-American launches the opening night of her European tour like a woman hell-bent on cramming every idea she’s ever had into 80 frantic minutes.

There are dramatic video interludes – all fire, lightning and breathy words of wisdom – and cleverly choreographed routines that take inspiration variously from the doomed bolero between matador and bull, Cuban street culture, expressive dance and, oddly, The Sound Of Music.

One minute Cabello is sitting on stage dispensing big sisterly advice; the next she’s being borne aloft by a shadowy gang wearing cloaks and crowns. It’s not coherent, exactly, but it’s certainly good fun.

Camila Cabello makes  an entrance looking like a young Penélope Cruz attending a Dynasty -themed party, in vampy black lace and earrings that possibly require their own dressing room

Camila Cabello makes an entrance looking like a young Penélope Cruz attending a Dynasty -themed party, in vampy black lace and earrings that possibly require their own dressing room

When it comes to the music, Cabello’s heritage is sometimes deployed overtly – as on her lazily lovely hit, Havana, performed as a sun-drenched encore – but is more often evident in her willingness not to rush the rhythm, her ability to locate the slow, sweet spot on songs like All These Years.

Her four-piece group are session-band slick, and though they lack the lightness of touch to get the best out of Inside Out and Never Be The Same, they pack a punch that Cabello matches. 

Something’s Gotta Give is powerfully reframed as a gun control anthem, the screen rolling out images of school shootings. 

Did she use the same footage on her recent US tour? That really would be a brave move.

Cleverly choreographed routines  take inspiration variously from the doomed bolero between matador and bull, Cuban street culture, expressive dance and, oddly, The Sound Of Music 

Cleverly choreographed routines take inspiration variously from the doomed bolero between matador and bull, Cuban street culture, expressive dance and, oddly, The Sound Of Music 

Cabello served her apprenticeship with Fifth Harmony, a girl group created for the US X Factor, and she occasionally slips into bad habits. 

A brief tilt at Can’t Help Falling In Love With You has considerably more notes than the original, almost all superfluous. 

On Consequences, sung at the piano, her vocal range – which roams impressively from helium squeak to throaty purr – gets the full Mariah workout.

Yes, there’s too much between-song blather about following your dreams and loving yourself. 

More telling, however, is that when Cabello smuggles a snatch of Prince’s Kiss inside Into It, it doesn’t feel like sacrilege. 

Singing off-mike and unaccompanied on In The Dark, she even achieves the unheard-of feat of silencing a Glasgow audience.

camilacabello.com

 

ALBUM OF THE WEEK 

Kanye West                                     Ye                  Good Music/Def Jam, out now 

Rating:

‘It’s been a shaky-ass year,’ declares Kanye West on Ye. Well, that much is obvious. 

Ye consists of seven tracks, lasts 23 minutes and boasts a blurry smartphone snap as a cover. 

It’s essentially an extension of West’s attention-baiting social media feeds, which include donning a Make America Great Again hat. 

Ye consists of seven tracks, lasts 23 minutes and is essentially an extension of Kanye West’s attention-baiting social media feeds, which include donning a Make America Great Again hat

Ye consists of seven tracks, lasts 23 minutes and is essentially an extension of Kanye West’s attention-baiting social media feeds, which include donning a Make America Great Again hat

His take on the #MeToo movement is sheer relief that he hasn’t been implicated and I Thought About Killing You Today offers nothing beyond the thought contained in the title.

Mostly, he simply seems confused. The misogynistic doggerel of All Mine is impossible to square with Violent Crimes, where West panics at the idea that his infant daughter will one day grow up to be – hold the front page – a woman. 

The best track is sung by John Legend: the raw gospel of Ghost Town takes Ye briefly and thrillingly to church.

When West boasts ‘I don’t take advice from people less successful than me’, he sounds suspiciously like the current occupant of the White House. 

The comparison is apt. Sloppily constructed from the base material of self-obsession, ideological confusion and shrugging unaccountability, Ye truly is an album fit for our times. It’s that depressing. 

 

THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES

By Adam Woods 

 

Johnny Marr                   Call The Comet                           New Voodoo, out Fri 

Rating:

With Morrissey on a mission to alienate faithful fans, Johnny Marr has become the keeper of the Smiths flame, and his third solo album offers up dark Mancunian indie-rock that gets better as it goes along. After a stodgy start, Hi Hello, Day In Day Out and Actor Attractor form a stop-start sequence of winners, all fairy-lit guitar chords and sad synths

With Morrissey on a mission to alienate faithful fans, Johnny Marr has become the keeper of the Smiths flame, and his third solo album offers up dark Mancunian indie-rock that gets better as it goes along. After a stodgy start, Hi Hello, Day In Day Out and Actor Attractor form a stop-start sequence of winners, all fairy-lit guitar chords and sad synths

 

Eric Clapton                       Life In 12 Bars                               Universal, out now 

Rating:

There’s no lighthearted way to tell Clapton’s story: confusing his grandmother for his mum, burying himself in drugs and alcohol, losing his son to a tragic accident. All this time, there was music too, of course, and this soundtrack to Lili Fini Zanuck’s documentary is a fine two-disc overview of the best of it, with previously unreleased tracks as a sweetener

There’s no lighthearted way to tell Clapton’s story: confusing his grandmother for his mum, burying himself in drugs and alcohol, losing his son to a tragic accident. All this time, there was music too, of course, and this soundtrack to Lili Fini Zanuck’s documentary is a fine two-disc overview of the best of it, with previously unreleased tracks as a sweetener



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