Digital Cover Story 24: Camilo
“…It was a very important part of my mental, spiritual and creative health during the pandemic. Every day, I was waking up to grab a guitar, to grab a notebook and a pen and started putting everything together that was happening inside of me, it was my daily therapy.”
When I conducted this interview with Latin superstar Camilo a few weeks ago - my first face-to-face interview in probably two years - he was in the middle of his European tour, his first tour ever, which led him from Spain to Switzerland, the UK, France, and Germany. “This is the first tour of my life”, he admits when I ask him how it’s going so far. “It’s crazy. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought my music would go that far, I wouldn’t believe it. So I’m loving it.” However, what I would witness a day later at his show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire did not indicate that fact in the slightest - with his incredible stage confidence and effortless ability to captivate his eager crowd, it seemed that Camilo is already a seasoned performer on his hundredth tour. “I really enjoy that feeling right before I go up to stage. I’m really excited about London, it was sold out quickly - from the moment tickets were available.” And let me tell you, the fans - described as ‘La Tribu’ (Spanish for ‘The Tribe’) by Camilo - did show up. With London’s Colombian community and fans from every stage of life in the building, cheering him on and knowing every single lyric to his songs, crying their eyes out, and chanting along to his catchy songs you could tell that ‘La Tribu’ is special. Rarely have I expected such a mesmerizing atmosphere and sense of unity at a concert.
Words by Antonia Kuenzel
“My music is a picture of my identity. It’s like a transparent image of who I am, and my live performance is an extension of that, you know. I’ve been dreaming about this for my entire life. So all those ideas, all the repertoire that we have taken care of with so much love, are anthems of hope for a lot of people that were locked up in their house. It was pretty weird for all of us. I’m super proud of my band. My team, everyone is so beautiful. My family is traveling with me. So this is a family trip, like a family and friends trip”, Camilo tells me.
“My music is a picture of my identity. It’s like a transparent image of who I am, and my live performance is an extension of that.”
- CAMILO
It’s no secret anymore that Camilo’s music has travelled all across the globe. With millions and millions of streams under his belt, collaborations with the likes of Latin heavyweights Pedro Capo, Mau y Ricky, and even Shakira, the Colombian singer-songwriter quickly rose to one of the most acclaimed artists in Latin Pop. Only recently, he has teamed up with none other than Shawn Mendes for the remix of his track ‘KESI’. “I would love to say that I chose Shawn for the remix. He was the one who wrote me a DM on Instagram. I followed him before, but I didn’t know he followed me. He was like, ‘I really admire you. I love your music.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, I love you.’ He was like, ‘let’s do a remix of ‘KESI’. I was like, ‘of course’, I was in the studio with my engineer. And 15 minutes after, I sent all the stems in production, I was like, ‘bro, do whatever you want. Like, it’s your song. Be you.’ Four, five hours he got back with a link. It was the fastest collaboration I’ve ever done in my life”, Camilo reminisces when I was wondering how the collaboration came about.
Now, many of you will have heard Shawn’s songs so far, but have you ever heard him sing in Spanish until now? Didn’t think so, but he made his debut in ‘KESI’, much to Camilo’s surprise. “I played it with my wife. And he started singing in English. And when he started singing in Spanish, it was such an honour for me because I’m a huge fan of Shawn and his first time singing in Spanish was with me”, he laughs. The release of ‘KESI’ ft. Shawn Mendes follows up on the release of Camilo’s critically acclaimed album ‘Mis Manos’ which he unveiled just earlier this year. Stacked with melodic, captivating, and profound sing-a-long tracks, the body of work was created in midst of the pandemic last year. But it got Camilo through the lockdown in the best way possible. “I’m very grateful for that album”, he states. “It was a very important part of my mental, spiritual and creative health during the pandemic. Every day, I was waking up to grab a guitar, to grab a notebook and a pen, and started putting everything together that was happening inside of me, it was my daily therapy. My first album [‘Por Primera Vez’] was released at the beginning of the pandemic and was the soundtrack to a lot of people throughout. Not being able to go out, not being able to travel, like your house was your universe, and it was very painful and very hard to face that situation. So this album [‘Mis Manos’] was a very personal process. And it is not only a product that I’m releasing now. It was a huge part of what I am. So that’s why I’m so excited and proud of this album”, he concludes after we speak about how it helped him navigate dark times throughout seemingly never-ending lockdowns.
Something that I have continuously noticed is that Camilo frequently collaborates with his wife, Venezuelan songstress Evaluna Montaner - also a hugely successful artist with millions of monthly listeners on Spotify and hits for days under her belt. Tracks such as ‘Macchu Picchu’, ‘Por Primera Vez’ and the most recent single ‘Indigo’ are just some of their collaborative efforts, and fans absolutely love it. In the past, they have shared their personal moments such as their wedding and their house move in form of music videos, and if I’m being honest, it’s adorable and beautiful to witness. I do wonder though what it’s like to work with a partner and ask Camilo whether it has ever been challenging. “My wife is my favorite artist ever. And my favorite creative director ever, too. I mean, it’s hard sometimes, because working with the person you love the most is hard and I’m a little micromanager and I want to take care of everything all the time. And with the people you love, you don’t do that. But with my career, my music, my videos, and my ideas, I try to be like that. So finding that balance between the relationship that we have as a couple, and the creative relationship that we have is such a blessing. And she’s a very easy person to work with. She’s so humble. She’s so easy to talk with. And she has amazing ideas. And plus, she’s my favorite artist and I write all the songs for her. I love that and you’re never closer to anybody than when you are creating something with that person. You know, the level of intimacy of creativity”, Camilo reflects, and I have to say, you can truly identify both their creative and romantic chemistry in their joint songs, on stage, and in the visuals. But speaking of writing songs for Evaluna - what some might not know is that Camilo isn’t only a singer but has in fact written numerous hit singles for some of the hottest Latin talent out there, including Becky G and Natti Natasha (anyone remembers ‘Sin Pijama’? I had it on repeat for a whole summer. Camilo co-wrote that. What a banger!), Karol G and Bad Bunny. “Anonymously in the studio recording and throwing ideas for someone else is something I really enjoyed. When you write for someone else, you don’t have that much of your ego asking you a lot of questions. I mean, if you’re not going to be the one that is going to sing the song, you don’t have to ask yourself, ‘how am I going to be proud of this?’ But when you start writing for yourself there are a lot of insecurities. So for me, it was a beautiful opportunity that other artists invited me as a songwriter and as a producer,” he reflects when I ask him how being a songwriter for others differs from his own creative process, and goes on to explain that “every time I’m writing for me I get super nervous because of my career. So I take a lot of responsibility.” We agree that if you’re writing for someone else, you don’t have to stay accountable for any backlash or negative reception as they’re the person who is the face of the single, and Camilo sums it up with a brilliant metaphor: “It’s like being a boxer, right? Like you can be the coach, you can train every day with a person, you can wake up at the same moment, you can be there, eat like them, be with them, but the boxer going to go into the ring is going to have the punches. It’s that person, not you as a coach, that is going to be on the news as a loser or as a winner. And it’s the same with music.”
“Mis Manos is such an important exploration of myself, my roots as a Colombian artist, the diversity inside of me and bringing different sounds to life.”
- CAMILO
While his songwriting efforts have contributed a lot to his career, his singing efforts have catapulted him even further. Only recently, the nominations of the Latin Grammy Awards got announced, and Camilo has not received just one, but ten nominations in total, making him the top contender - Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album are just some of the categories that he’s nominated for, and it’s undoubtedly a huge achievement. “I’m still processing the news of me being the most nominated”, Camilo blushes and, beaming with gratefulness, tells me how he found out about it. “I was arriving from the flight from Barcelona to London, it was raining a lot and the plane landed like 25 minutes earlier. We didn’t have a gate yet and a bus came up that wanted to take us to the gate, everything was super messy and at that moment they started releasing the nominations. So we found out about the first one, Record Of The Year, and we’re screaming on the bus like, ‘yeah!’ Everyone on the bus was silent and probably thought ‘this guy is crazy.’ And then the second and third nominations came in but then I had to go through immigration and couldn’t follow it anymore but I thought ‘three nominations, that’s more than enough.’ Then we were picking up the bags, and my wife called me from Madrid and she was like, ‘Yo you know what? You are nominated ten times’. I was like, ‘you’re joking’. And she was like, ‘No you are the most nominated’ and I was screaming and almost crying. I feel super honoured”, he chuckles. Although every single nomination is very special, I can’t help but wonder which one means the most to Camilo, if there is one in particular. “Every nomination is super important to me but for sure, Best Album of The Year with Mis Manos because it’s such an important exploration of myself, my roots as a Colombian artist, the diversity inside of me, and bringing different sounds to life. It’s so honest. Another one is the Best Regional Mexican Song because I’m not Mexican but I love regional Mexican! I love it. I’ve done a collaboration with Los Dos Carnales, a Mexican duo that’s my favourite in the world. I reached out to them and was like, ‘I love you guys and I want to collaborate with you’, and now it’s nominated. That is crazy because I did it with so much respect and love and enjoyed every step,” he reveals.
From releasing an album to being on the road in Europe to receiving numerous nominations - there is no doubt that Camilo has had an exciting year so far. But it’s not over yet. “Wrapping up the tour is a far idea. After Europe, we are going to the States! Due to COVID restrictions, it’s hard to tour in Latin America but as soon as we have confirmation, we are going to be touring all across the continent. So I’m not planning to wrap up my tour just yet,” he says, and fans will love to hear that he continues making music on the road. “In the tour bus, on the planes, in the hotel - we are making everything a studio. I’m already in the middle of the creative process of my next album. So I’m super excited.” And judging from his Instagram, he’s about to become a father next year too. The world is Camilo’s oyster, and we can’t wait to see where his journey takes him.
Watch his most recent visual for single ‘Indigo’ below
Stream ‘KESI (Remix)’ ft. Shawn Mendes HERE
Keep up with Camilo on socials…
Instagram: @Camilo
Twitter: @camilomusica
Facebook: @camilomusica
TikTok: @camilo