Camila Cabello & Lil Nas X pulled up to Genius to discuss their song “HE KNOWS.” The bouncy track is the second single from Camila’s upcoming fourth album C,XOXO. On todays episode of Verified, the duo brought the heat as they discussed their steamy song, how the collaboration came about, embracing your inner bad b*tch and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00The energy of CXOXO to me is like just embracing the real, just like bad b**** and letting
00:08the humbleness go.
00:09I feel like the energy of CXOXO is also just like freeing, and I feel like that's really
00:14where I am in my life.
00:16And I think it's really beautiful to see this side of Camila.
00:19I love you.
00:20I love you too.
00:21Whenever I go into the studio, I kind of am always like looking for what kind of thing
00:32have I not done before?
00:35And I had never done anything that felt kind of like housey.
00:37I said that to Guincho and Jasper, and they pulled out this Oh Jeremy sample of Give It
00:44Up To Me.
00:45And then we didn't have the second verse because we were like, we know we need somebody on
00:49this song.
00:51We need somebody iconic.
00:53We need a cultural icon.
00:55We need a true artist.
00:57We need a musician.
00:59We need Lil Nas X.
01:01This is actually the first feature I ever recorded.
01:03So I was like, how can I make the sluttiest, most fun, homo-sexual verse of my career?
01:09To me, she's a provocateur, like you're a provocateur.
01:22I'm a provocateur.
01:23You know why?
01:24Because sometimes you provoke people by just being yourself.
01:34Give these boys hell, which is very the attitude of CXOToxo.
01:37Do you feel like you give these boys hell?
01:39I think I give these boys false hope a lot of the time.
01:42I hate to work on that.
01:44You are giving these boys hell then.
01:45Yeah.
01:46I'm the one that's the lover girl.
01:47I'm like-
01:48Head over heels?
01:49Yeah.
01:50You're a little simpy maybe?
01:51Yeah, I'm totally simpy.
01:52That's what I was trying to say.
01:53But not anymore.
01:54Not this summer.
02:03I was trying to do the practice of show not tell, so as in it's all very sensory, a lot
02:08of visuals.
02:09Not a lot of adjectives, but more just like things.
02:11So butterfly that's on my wrist.
02:12Put your hands on me like this, because you got to tell these boys what to do sometimes.
02:17Make the first move.
02:18Right?
02:19I do.
02:20Yeah.
02:21You got to sometimes.
02:22Got to.
02:23There's nothing more hot than being teased or teasing.
02:34Yeah.
02:35I feel like teasing is the best part.
02:36It's the best part.
02:37Everything's downhill from there.
02:38Everything actually is downhill from there.
02:40The mind games are everything.
02:41Yeah.
02:42It's everything.
02:43It's like, what are you going to do?
02:44Yeah.
02:45Give them one kiss just softly, and then you're just like ...
02:46Get off of me.
02:47Yeah.
02:48Move.
02:49Yeah, exactly.
02:50It's like ...
02:51Yeah.
02:52Yeah.
02:53We just teased each other a little bit.
02:54Stop.
02:55Stop.
02:56When you what?
02:57When I play with him like that.
02:58What else?
02:59When I say it to him like that.
03:00And?
03:01Have my way with him like that.
03:02I think he knows.
03:03Uh-huh.
03:04When I play with him like that.
03:05When I say it to him like that.
03:06That he's coming right back.
03:07I think he knows.
03:08When I play with him like that.
03:09When I say it to him like that.
03:10Have my way with him like that.
03:11When you play with him?
03:12Whoa, baby.
03:13No, not that way.
03:14Oh, okay.
03:15Play with his mind.
03:16Yeah.
03:17Which is even hotter.
03:18This is the tease song.
03:19This is the tease song.
03:20This is the tease song.
03:21This is the tease song.
03:22This is the tease song.
03:23This is the tease song.
03:24This is the tease song.
03:25This is the tease song.
03:27Yeah.
03:28Which is even hotter.
03:29This is the tease song.
03:30This is the song where it's like you're teasing him and he's simping over you.
03:33Yeah.
03:34I know.
03:35That's how you play giving them false hope.
03:36I know this is your fucking life story.
03:39All right.
03:40All right.
03:49I'm not saying dripping on my bussy.
03:52That's so slutty.
03:53Dripping down on my bussy.
03:54Ice cream.
03:55Ice cream, right?
03:56Like, doop, doop, doop.
03:57You know?
03:58Yeah.
03:59He's dripping down there.
04:00I'm not going to say you know what.
04:01Rain on me by Shanti is kind of a sad song, but I'm using it in a different way here.
04:06It's like different liquids that we produce.
04:09There's tears.
04:10Yeah, like he's crying.
04:11He's crying.
04:12No, there's tears and then there's other kinds.
04:14Yeah, sweat.
04:15Yeah, sure.
04:17He fucking up my head, boys.
04:18I'm on my knees like, dear Lord, please pray for me.
04:22Save your grace for me.
04:24We're starting from the car, right?
04:25We're just like, you know, it's on some pretty fun sexual stuff.
04:29We're having fun.
04:30Cut to the house.
04:31Now he's like, he's fucking up my head, boys.
04:33Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
04:34And it's like painting it as this masochistic way, which is actually not at all.
04:39Don't do sex stuff.
04:40No, don't.
04:41But it sounded good.
04:42Don't kiss.
04:43Yeah.
04:44Don't even kiss.
04:45The first time I kiss, it's Camila.
04:46Yeah, same.
04:47Yeah.
05:07I honestly feel like my relationship with boys has changed a lot over the past two and a half years.
05:14I feel like I'm a lot more confident in the situation and less like, oh, I'm just gonna
05:20let it happen if it happens.
05:21I'm like, no.
05:22You take initiative.
05:23You're mine.
05:24Come here.
05:25You know what I mean?
05:26Ooh, that's hard.
05:27So it's like, stop.
05:28Ooh, that gave me a little.
05:30But yeah, I go to the boys and I'm just like, yo, I'm like, come here.
05:36That's where that comes from.
05:43Watching the way I move.
05:47More drunk on power than on liquor.
05:52And he knows it's true.
05:54As a woman, you don't really get to say stuff like that.
05:57Like, I'm drunk on power right now.
05:59It's not really a very ladylike thing to say, because you kind of adopt a more fragile,
06:04submissive position.
06:06And I feel like in this song, it's the opposite.
06:08It's like, no one's-
06:09Snatchies.
06:10Yeah, exactly.
06:11Exactly.
06:12I'm Camila Cabello-like.
06:13XO, XO.
06:43Bow!
06:47Camila, don't play with him like that.
06:49Yeah.
06:50Don't play with him like that.
06:51And I'm like, when I play with him like that.
06:52She's like, I'm going to play with him like that.
06:54Camila, don't play with him.
06:56But I didn't mean it.
06:57It's like a, don't play with him like that, but go ahead.
06:59You know?
07:00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:01Play with him like that.
07:02Yeah, yeah.
07:03When am I ever going to be able to do gunshot sounds on a pop song?
07:06Like, ever again?
07:07But that's why it's so sick.
07:08The hardness of that.
07:10That's what makes it, I feel, rub in this sick way.
07:14It's a great contrast.
07:20I think that he likes when I say handprints on my ass cheeks.
07:26I'm just kidding.
07:27Shut the fuck up.
07:28I'm just kidding.
07:29Honestly, that Genius video is so iconic, and that part is so iconic.
07:33One of my favorite parts that we didn't talk about, there was at the 1.32 mark.
07:38If you listen real closely, Camila's farting in the background.
07:42What kind of fart?
07:43It was like a...
07:45It was like a complete fart.
07:46And I was just like, that's real of her.
07:48I feel like a lot of big stars aren't doing that right now.
07:51No, yeah.
07:52They're not willing to be authentic like that.
07:54And I wanted to match her energy, so I did a rip.
07:57I was like...
07:59But the thing is, they cut mines out, and I have no problem with it, but I respect it.
08:03I respect it.
08:04The artistic choice.
08:05Wow.
08:06Thanks, Pookie.
08:07Wow.
08:08That was beautiful.