Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; Latin American Spanish: [ˈkaɾla kaˈmila kaˈβeʝo esˈtɾaβao]; born March 3, 1997) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group, Fifth Harmony, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time (16th). While in the group, Cabello established herself as a solo artist with collaborative singles "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (with Shawn Mendes) and "Bad Things" (with Machine Gun Kelly), the latter making number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. She left Fifth Harmony in late 2016.
Cabello's debut studio album, Camila (2018), peaked atop the US Billboard 200. Largely influenced by Latin music, its lead single "Havana" (featuring Young Thug) was an international chart-topper. It was the best-selling digital single of 2018, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Its follow-up, "Never Be the Same" reached the top ten in multiple countries. Cabello's 2019 second studio album, Romance, peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and spawned a second global chart-topper in "Señorita", a duet with Mendes. Cabello's third album, Familia (2022), made number ten on the Billboard 200 and contained the international hit "Bam Bam" (featuring Ed Sheeran). Cabello's fourth studio album, C,XOXO, was released in 2024, and it peaked number 13 on the Billboard 200.
Cabello's awards include two Latin Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and one Billboard Music Award. In 2021, Cabello starred as the title character in the film Cinderella.
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao was born on March 3, 1997, in Cojímar, within the Habana del Este district of Havana, Cuba, to Alejandro Cabello and Sinuhe Estrabao. Her father was born in Mexico City and her mother is Cuban. After meeting in Mexico City, her parents moved to Cuba. She has a younger sister named Sofia. Her great-great-grandfather was Proculo Capistran, a guerrilla fighter who fought in the Mexican Revolution alongside Emiliano Zapata.
She spent much of her early life moving back and forth between Mexico and Cuba. She identifies as "Cuban-Mexican".
When Cabello was between 6 and 7, she relocated to Miami, Florida with her mother, crossing the border from Mexico to the United States and taking a 36-hour Greyhound bus ride to Miami, after waiting only one day at the border before being granted permission to enter the US. Cabello was told by her mother that she was going to Walt Disney World as an incentive to go to the US; they moved into the home of Cabello's grandfather's colleague, who would later become her godmother. Cabello's mother took night courses to study English. Cabello's father was unable to obtain a visa at the time, and joined the family approximately 18 months later.
Cabello's mother—a trained architect with a degree earned in Cuba—initially worked at Marshalls, stacking shoes, until one day, two other Cuban women approached her at work and told her that they had a brother who worked in architecture; she was told that the brother needed someone who worked in AutoCAD, and Cabello's mother learned the program in a week. In time, she had earned enough money to move out of her father's colleague's house and into an apartment with her children. Cabello's mother and father eventually formed a construction company named after Camila and Sofia. Cabello acquired American citizenship in 2008.
Cabello attended Miami Palmetto High School, but left during the 2012–2013 school year (while she was in 9th grade) to pursue her singing career. Later, she earned her high school diploma.
2012–2016: The X Factor and Fifth Harmony
Camila Cabello auditioned for the TV talent competition show The X Factor in Greensboro, North Carolina, with Aretha Franklin's "Respect"; however, her audition was not aired because the series did not get the rights for the song. After elimination during the "bootcamp" portion of the process in Miami, Florida, Cabello was called back to the stage along with other contestants Ally Brooke, Normani, Lauren Jauregui, and Dinah Jane to form the girl group that would later become known as Fifth Harmony. After finishing in third place on the show, they signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic Records, L.A. Reid's record label.
The group released the EP Better Together (2013) along with the studio albums Reflection (2015) and 7/27 (2016). The latter two generated the singles "Worth It" and "Work from Home", respectively, which reached the top 10 in several international charts. From 2013 through the end of 2016, Cabello performed in various tours with Fifth Harmony.
In November 2015, Cabello collaborated with Canadian singer Shawn Mendes on a duet titled "I Know What You Did Last Summer", a song they wrote together. The single charted at number 20 in the US and 18 in Canada and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On October 14, 2016, American rapper Machine Gun Kelly released a joint single with Cabello called "Bad Things", which reached a peak of number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Also that year, Time magazine included Cabello on "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2016" list.
On December 18, 2016, Fifth Harmony announced Cabello's departure, with both sides giving contradictory explanations of the circumstances for her exit. She appeared in a previously taped performance with the group on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve at the end of 2016. Writing about Cabello's time in the group, a Billboard journalist noted it is "rather uncommon for someone to stand out in a collective as much as Cabello has over the past years."
2017–2018: Breakthrough with Camila
On January 25, 2017, "Love Incredible", a collaboration with Norwegian DJ Cashmere Cat, leaked online. The official version of the song was released on February 16 and later featured on Cashmere's debut studio album, 9 (2017). Cabello also recorded "Hey Ma" with rappers Pitbull and J Balvin for The Fate of the Furious soundtrack (2017). The Spanish version of the single and its music video were released on March 10, 2017, and the English version was released on April 6. The singer was also featured on a collaboration with Major Lazer, Travis Scott and Quavo for the song "Know No Better".
In May 2017, Cabello announced the future release of her first studio album, at the time titled The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving., which she described as "the story of my journey from darkness into light, from a time when I was lost to a time when I found myself again". Her debut solo single "Crying in the Club" was released on May 19, 2017, followed by a performance at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. The single peaked at number 47 in the United States. She joined Bruno Mars' 24K Magic World Tour as an opening act for several shows in 2017 and partnered with clothing brand Guess as the face of their 2017 Fall campaign.
New writing and recording sessions for her debut album, influenced by the success of her single "Havana" featuring Young Thug, postponed the album's original release date. The single reached number one in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Hungary and the United States. A commercial success, it also spent seven weeks atop the US Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart. The song became Spotify's most-streamed song ever by a solo female artist in June 2018, with over 888 million streams at the time. Titled Camila, her debut album is a pop record containing Latin-influenced songs and ballads. Camila was released on January 12, 2018, and debuted at number one in the United States with 119,000 album-equivalent units, including 65,000 from pure album sales. The album was eventually certified platinum in the country. "Real Friends" and "Never Be the Same" were released in the same day on December 7, 2017, the latter becoming her third top 10 entry on the Hot 100, peaking at Number 6. "Havana" and "Never Be the Same" made Cabello the first artist to top the Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Top 40 airplay charts with the first two singles from a debut studio album. She later won an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year for "Havana".