The 'Havana' hitmaker admits she was nervous putting forward her own ideas and working with people she had admired for so long.

• May 31, 2018

AceShowbiz - Camila Cabello was so nervous working on solo material with producers like Pharrell Williams and Max Martin that she had to escape to the bathroom to calm down.

The "Havana" singer left girl group Fifth Harmony in December 2016 to launch herself as a solo artist, and she set about creating her debut solo record Camila.

However, when she first began attending writing sessions for own material, nobody expected her to have much input having come from a manufactured group, and she admits she was nervous putting forward her own ideas and working with people she had admired for so long.

"I remember when I first worked with Frank (Dukes), when I first worked with Pharrell, when I first went into Max Martin's studio, I was just so nervous," she said during her cover interview with Rolling Stone. "I would have to just go to the bathroom and take deep breaths.

"I was just coming out of a group whose songs were all written by other people... so people would be like, 'Oh, here's this idea for you today. You're going to cut this song.' And I'd be like, 'Well, I have this concept that I really wanted to write about today,' and I'd pull out my laptop, and I would have lyrics and things. When I had input, they were surprised."

The 21-year-old began writing her own songs when she was 16 years old and even recorded them with the possibility of letting other artists make them, but she eventually realised she didn't want to give them away.

However, at the time she was tied to Fifth Harmony, who "recorded albums in, like, two weeks, just bang, bang, bang", and it was made clear to her that she couldn't pursue a solo career and stay within the group, so she left.

"I don't think there was ever a point where I was like, 'I want to leave because I'm the breakout star,'" she explained. "If we were in the same situation now, it would probably be fine for everyone to make their own music while being in the group, because I think everyone understands now that you can't limit people. That's why people break free."