Good songs can totally envelope us in their worlds. Because of this evocation, we can so vividly imagine the juxtaposition of the upbeat “Genie in a Bottle” playing in the background as we hold back tears, watching couples dance all around us. Cabello is creating a genuine dramatic portrait that immediately places the listener within the world of the song. The Christina reference is diegetic-it feels like “Genie in a Bottle” is playing in the actual scene described. She’s not only using the melody to evoke the sound of her crying. In the age of sampling, it’s easy to miss this particular “song within a song” variety of intertextuality in pop music, but it is very apparent in “Crying in the Club.” Cabello (and her co-writers and producers, including Sia ) is not simply using the melody from another song in order to provide a pleasant but meaningless musical accompaniment. The exact melody from the pre-chorus of Christina Aguilera’s “ Genie in a Bottle ” appears to be playing in the song’s titular club.
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And what is there to comfort this tragic character in her loneliest moment? Why, it’s a song from 1999 when Cabello was 2 years old.
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Just when she needs it most, a melody comes out of the ether. She is telling herself that she needs to have a good time, that she needs to get over her past relationship, that, “There ain’t no crying in the club.” The protagonist addresses “you,” and we feel as if she’s speaking directly to us: “You think, that you’ll die without him / You know, that’s a lie that you tell yourself.” But she quickly shifts into command form, demanding human contact, “Put your arms around me tonight.” It becomes clear (especially when preceded by the dramatic “I Have Questions” as the prelude to the music video) that our hero is indeed the one in need of comfort. Camila Cabello’s hit, “ Crying in the Club ,” is a tale of the desperate emotions we all feel when faced with a world-shattering breakup.