Camila Cabello’s life changed thanks to one song, ‘Havana’

Camila Cabello’s life will “never ever be the same” (don’t fight it, you know the lyrics). The Cuban-born singer, who got her big break as part of the girl group Fifth Harmony, launched a solo career that’s been on fire since the release of her album Camila in 2018. In just one year, Cabello broke records and made history at this year’s Grammy Awards. She took the stage with Ricky Martin and J Balvin, becoming the first Latina to open the Grammys. A shocking statistic, considering that Jennifer Lopez has been in the game since the '90s. While Cabello didn’t take home a Grammy award, she was nominated for two: Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance for her hit song “Havana.” Speaking of “Havana” (ooh na-na), the single was Spotify’s most-streamed song, with more than 800 million streams, making Cabello the first solo Latina artist to break this record. Her self-titled album also broke records soaring to No. 1 on iTunes in more than 100 countries in just under 24 hours. Cabello also did the unthinkable, becoming the first singer in 15 years to hold the No. 1 spot both for her song “Havana” and for her album Camila. Beyoncé had achieved that win way back in 2003, with the release of her song “Crazy in Love” and album Dangerously in Love. Wait, there’s more: “Havana” spent seven weeks on the Pop Songs chart — the longest reign for a female artist since Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” claimed top honors in 2013. The achievements keep on coming. Last year, Cabello won three Teen Choice Awards, four American Music Awards and was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards. She walked away with Artist of the Year and Video of the Year. “Getting to do shows where people are singing words that I wrote back to me was a completely mind-boggling new experience,” she told Billboard magazine. “The last year was definitely the best year of my life.”