Camila Cabello’s “Can Friends Kiss,” Explained

You’d think after a summer of bleach jobs, blue lollipops, and “Miami baddie energy,” Camila Cabello would be winding down, but the season isn’t over yet — and neither is her C, XOXO era. The “I Love It” singer just expanded her Florida-inspired collection with the newly released Magic City Edition, featuring four new songs she called “a crucial part of the soul of this album.”

Between an Eem Triplin collab and a flirty invitation to “Come Show Me,” the fresh tracks largely continue the messy, carefree, and hip-hop-infused story established on the original record, but with even more honesty. However, no tune is as intriguing or revealing as the lowercase-styled “Can Friends Kiss?”, a thumping and seductive bop about crossing boundaries.

If its title didn’t set the scene perfectly, the first verse finishes the job as Cabello confesses to calling up an ex who’s now a friend and the urge to plant fantasies in his head. Though she admits “that we shouldn’t,” an undeniable chemistry propels her into a throbbing, dreamy chorus led by one question: “Can friends kiss? / Touch each other like this?”

And while the 27-year-old paints an irresistible picture of a romantic reconnection underscored by “a Popcaan song,” the vision is quickly shattered by the second verse. The stakes of this late-night invitation become apparent as she confronts her ex about his “new girl” who “don’t move me.” Cabello goes as far as admitting, “When you talk about her, I get moody,” a raw confession that seems to minimize their split status and coerce her ex to cross the line further.

That said, the “June Gloom” singer plays all her cards on the breathy bridge. “Go and lock the door / Fall in love with me, I’m bored,” its lyrics go before her come-ons give way to an unacknowledged truth: “We both know I’m yours / I can’t do it anymore.”

Nevertheless, both Cabello and this unnamed ex seem to understand that the act of posing this question answers itself. Friends can’t kiss — and it’s a sentiment the singer comes to terms with by the track’s conclusion. Still, she can’t resist indulging the idea for a moment in the outro, crooning, “Teasin’ on you, put it on you, like this.”

So, what happened in the end? Perhaps the answer lies in a note Cabello penned on Instagram for the Magic City Edition release: “I can finally exhale completely now that [these songs] are out.”