Camila Cabello
The former Fifth Harmony member is opening up about the journey she and her mom took to reach America from Cuba. Getty Images

Camila Cabello departed Fifth Harmony months ago and is making a name for herself as a solo artist. The singer is working on her new music album and is writing songs that are true to her life. Cabello opened up to Glamour magazine in an interview with her mother, Sinuhe Estrabao, where they recalled their journey from Cuba to America, which in turn inspired a song that Cabello is working on.

"We flew from Cuba to Mexico, and went by bus to the American border; it took a month. We left everyone behind, my friends, my family. My fear was that my husband wouldn’t [ever] be able to come," Sinuhe told the magazine. "We went to Miami and stayed with a dear family friend for two months until I got a job at Marshall’s in the shoe department and we could rent a room. It was really hard. I came here with no money and left everything that was familiar. But I just made a list of goals, and every time I scratched one off, I felt that everything was worth it."

For Camila, adapting to a new country and culture was difficult. "In Cuba there were days in class where we would just watch cartoons," she recalled. "We weren’t learning. But when I came to the U.S., it was like: homework. A lot of things were suddenly so ­different—being at a new school without my friends, I didn’t speak the language, and I missed my dad. I had a little Disney calendar I would mark with x’s until the day he was supposed to come. When he finally did, a year and a half later, I was so happy!"

"Right now I’m in the process of writing about our whole journey," Cabello added. "I want to make a love song for immigrants. That word, immigrant, has such a negative connotation—I can just imagine all the little girls who have dreams of coming here and feel unwanted. It inspires me in my music to do my best to give [them] the light that I have. I want to be what people think of when they think of America—a person who, no matter what her first language was or what her religion is, can see her dreams come to life if she works hard enough."

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