I still cannot believe former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello’s “I LUV IT,” which features Opium ring leader Playboi Carti, exists.
The track, which samples Atlanta legend Gucci Mane’s 2009 song “Lemonade,” feels like something created by artificial intelligence.
Before “I LUV IT,” I would not have been able to tell you a single Camila Cabello song besides “Havana,” which is a good track in its own right but also features my favorite rapper of all time, Young Thug — unless you count Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home.” If I am being honest, I did not even know she was still making music.
Carti is one of my favorite working artists, not just rappers. But this is the man who calls himself “King Vamp” and wears all black — at all times. As an artist, his vibe is completely different from Cabello’s, which is why I am still confused as to how this song came to be. And his verse, which is OK, I guess, feels completely out of place against Cabello’s pitched-up refrain of “I love it.”
That refrain, “I love it; I love it; I love it; I love it,” is capital-‘A’ annoying and what I imagine people who do not listen to hyperpop think the genre is: peppy bubblegum-pop vocals over a fast, glitchy instrumental — and nothing more. And as someone who is a huge fan of SOPHIE, Charli XCX, 100 gecs and all of the other boundary-breaking artists who have worked to push pop in new, exciting directions, it is frustrating to see Cabello rip off the “aesthetics” of their music without adding anything of her own.
The music video for the song is even more of a jarring experience than listening to the track itself. Every shot — Cabello dancing blindfolded, Cabello drinking a cup full of gasoline — is a vapid attempt at being provocative.
The second half, in which Carti appears, takes place in a gas station, seemingly the same one the video for Carti’s recent single “2024” — the song which served as the full-fledged launch of his new deep-voice, Future-inspired sound — was filmed at. As Carti delivers his verse, Cabello is seen sitting on a freezer, making awkward gestures, in the background. In three and a half minutes, it is clear the two have zero chemistry, making their collaboration all the more puzzling.
At the end of all this, I am left wondering what the point was. Who thought this was a good idea? It comes off as nothing more than an attempt to be “#quirky,” trying far too hard to garner attention and far too little to produce anything of substance. And I know Carti’s music is not high art, but his beat selection and delivery is always interesting; it sounds different from other hip-hop, as corny and cliché as that is.
But who knows? Maybe “I LUV IT” will get in front of as many faces as it needs to, get as many clicks as it needs to, to make it a hit and make it worth it for Cabello and her team to build an entire album around this “sound.”
And, above all else, I am left wondering why Carti is spending his time on things like this instead of promoting — and releasing — “MUSIC,” his upcoming album. Seemingly everyone thought it was coming out in January; it is April. Will it come out this year? Will it ever come out? I do not know anymore.
