2024 single by Camila Cabello featuring Playboi Carti
"I Luv It" is a song by American singer Camila Cabello featuring American rapper Playboi Carti, from Cabello's forthcoming fourth studio album C, XOXO. It was released as the lead single on March 27, 2024, through Geffen Records and Interscope.[4]
Background and promotion
"Certain things in our human realm do make me feel like I’m in outer space, and the very rare few times where I’ve had incredible chemistry with someone is one of them... Part of that cocktail is also the emotional drama between you and that person, and the chaos and butterflies and nerves and passion. It’s unsustainable and not peaceful and exhausting, but also, I luv it."
–Cabello discussing the song in a press release for "I Luv It"[5]
Cabello first started teasing the song on March 5, 2024, which widely received comparisons to British singer Charli XCX's song "I Got It".[6] A clip posted to her social media features the singer with blonde hair repeating the chorus over an "electro instrumental".[7] On March 22, American singer Lana Del Rey promoted the song through her Instagram account.[8][9] Cabello announced the single and shared the artwork on March 25.[10]
On March 27, 2024, the music video directed by Nicolás Méndez, the founder of Canada, and produced by the company, premiered along with the song.[11]
Composition
"I Luv It" was described by writers for Rolling Stone and Stereogum as hyperpop and "hyperactive avant-pop", respectively.[12] The song prominently interpolates the chorus of Gucci Mane's 2009 song "Lemonade" into its own chorus.
Music video
The Nicolás Méndez-directed music video contrasts a scene of Cabello eating from a whole chocolate cake with different nightmarish sequences of her, including sprinting away from dogs, getting beaten up in a wrestling match, being stuck at the top of a palm tree, and lying mangled on a car. Cabello is seen shooting up a king-sized bed with an imaginary automatic firearm. Playboi Carti's appearance alongside Cabello in a gas station convenience store is preceded by an exterior nighttime shot of Cabello dancing blindfold with a group of women. The video ends with Cabello waiting for medical treatment, having been shot through the heart by Cupid's arrow.
Critical reception
"I Luv It" received mixed reviews from music critics upon its release, most of whom opined on her change in sound from conventional pop to alternative hyperpop. In a positive review, Robin Murray of Clash complimented the song's "colossal sense of acceleration" and "hyper-colorful production".[13] In a negative review, Alphonse Pierre of Pitchfork described Cabello's switch to hyperpop a "failed experiment", referring to the song multiple times in the review as "nonsense".[14] Steffanee Wang of Nylon further commented on the shift in Cabello's sound, stating her effort "feels so transparently calculated you can almost visualize all the decks, emails, and vision boards, but she also commits to it all so hard you have to give her credit".[15]
