Camilo: “I am in the process of rediscovering who I am today

Colombian singer Camilo is “returning home” to compose with new thoughts about his marriage and fatherhood, after spending more than two years on tour: “I am in the process of rediscovering who I am today,” he says in an interview with EFE.

“(I want to know) who I am now and how it turns into ideas and songs,” he delves into the author of songs like “Vida de Rico” or “El misma aire”.

After Camilo merged with the sound of his latest studio album, “De Inside Pa’ Out,” the singer-songwriter was left with a sense of creative “void” that he thought he would never be able to fill again.

“When I make an album, I say, I had nothing left to share, this is the end of my creativity because I had nothing left to share,” he notes.

The most accurate analogy he found to explain this was that of pregnancy and the process of separation that his wife, Evaluna Montaner, had to face after giving birth to their daughter, Índigo.

“Evaluna told me how intense it was and how strange it was not to have Indigo inside (…) I say this to draw a parallel with what I feel with my creativity, that when I manage to deliver and assemble everything in that ‘creature'” (album), it creates space for me to think, what now?”, he comments.

From that September 2022 when his last album was “born” to today, Camilo has continued to string together successes such as a new Grammy nomination in 2023 and continued a world tour that filled him with cultural experiences and teachings.

APPROACHING ASIA
He’s also been able to “oxygenate” his inventiveness with collaborations like the regional Mexican-style “Neither you owe me, nor I owe you” with Carin León, and more recently with “Palpita,” a song in which he explored Punjabi pop with the help of Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh.

“It’s one of the songs I had the most fun with because of the creative challenge it presented,” says the 29-year-old singer who was amazed by the instruments of the Asian country five years ago when he visited for the first time.

Camilo is proud that his followers can hear the versatility of his music and is excited by the combination that two artists like them from “universes so far away” were able to achieve.

“I love all the collaborations I have, but this one was completely different, I think it’s the most outside the circle of pleasant collaborations I’ve done so far,” he reflects.

This experimentation has left him wanting to continue testing new sonic horizons, as well as all the inspiration brought to him by a recent trip to Japan, where he performed at the Summer Sonic festival, which he describes as “Japan’s Coachella” and where he has the opportunity to collaborate live with several Japanese artists.

“After meeting Diljit and making a song like the one we made, it’s impossible for me to pick up a guitar again without getting wet. When you’re open like a sponge, things come and affect you and transform you forever,” he declares.

Other aspects that keep his inspiration fresh are the stories his followers share with him every time they meet him on the street or on social media.

“I explore my creativity naturally and freely, but their stories are what fill these songs with color and purpose. I’m writing again including all those feelings I’ve collected from so many trips,” he says, not knowing the imminent release date of the new album.

Camilo also admits that he is aware that his life is very happy with his wife and daughter, but this does not take away his ability to empathize with the “shadows” of existence that also live in his songs.

“It is enough to have a broken heart once in your life to connect with it forever. There is something in one’s heart that will forever remain sympathetic to the pain and my life has so many colors that I try to let the shadows inhabit us in songs so we cannot convey them in real life,” he concludes.