In December, fans suspected that Camila Cabello and Drake were dating after paparazzi cameras captured the pair on a luxury vacation together in Turks & Caicos. Months later, however, the pop star has finally revealed via her Wednesday (May 29) Billboard cover story that the only “couple” they ever made with one another was a couple of collaborators — with a couple of songs.
That’s right: Drizzy is featured on not just one, but two tracks on Cabello’s fourth studio album C,XOXO, which arrives June 28. They weren’t just partaking in some jet-skiing last winter, says the Fifth Harmony alum — while in the Islands, the duo was also finishing up a track.
“He’s the f–king GOAT, so it felt like shooting for the stars,” she told Billboard, noting how she first connected with the rapper by sliding into his DMs. “I showed him the album when I felt comfortable enough and he really liked it. [The feature] came out of a nontransactional place. He had this idea of a song called ‘Hot Uptown,’ and it just felt like I was in the city. I was in Miami.”
Drake is also featured on a two-minute-long interlude titled “Uuugly,” which comes immediately after “Hot Uptown” on the C,XOXO tracklist. The snippet, which was apparently all Champagne Papi’s idea, finds him singing over a blend of synth beats and Cabello’s vocals.
“Why does he have his own song? Because selfishly, I just want to hear Drake on my own album,” Cabello continued. “I love that for me — it’s like that rebellious mood. Who says I can’t do that? It’s Drake talking his s–t.”
The interview arrives about five months after the “Havana” singer and Drake’s trip. Cabello previously quelled dating rumors that arose from the outing in March, simply telling Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper, “I really felt like he would like my album, and so I DM’d him and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m just gonna put it out there.’”
“We hung out, I played him my album. He loved it,” she added at the time, not yet revealing that Drake was actually featured on the project.
Cabello’s upcoming LP also features City Girls, The-Dream and BLP Kosher, as well as the previously released singles “I Luv It” with Playboi Carti — which peaked at No. 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and “He Knows” with Lil Nas X. The effort marks the “Bam Bam” artist’s first time writing all of her own lyrics and top-line melodies for an album, which she thinks makes the body of work sound “purer.”
“I think that’s why it sounds so cohesive,” she told Billboard. “Because it really feels like me.”
