A Complete Timeline of Camila Cabello's Career
From The X-Factor to her solo career, here is how Camila Cabello found her way to the 22nd season of The Voice and beyond.
Camila Cabello, who was a Coach on The Voice for Season 22 (alongside Blake Shelton, John Legend, and Gwen Stefani) is pretty much a household name. With over 47 million Instagram followers and four Grammy nominations, she has made headlines for both her prodigious musical talents and celebrity factor.
But how did Cabello become so famous? Revisit her rise to stardom, which — hint hint — started in a similar fashion to fellow Voice Coach Niall Horan.
What singing competition was Camila Cabello in?
Cabello is no stranger to the talent competition show universe: She got her start by auditioning for The X-Factor in 2012.
America's Got Talent Judge Simon Cowell also created The X-Factor and was judging it during Cabello's season. He played a major role behind Cabello’s big break after he found her crying backstage
"[I] asked her why she was crying," he told Extra in 2022. "And she said, you know, it was too late for her to audition because she was a reserve, whatever that meant."
"I said to her, ‘Well, I’m one of the producers, you just got an Audition,’" he explained.
After she was eliminated as a solo Contestant, Cowell believed in her talent so strongly that he helped form the all-girl ensemble Fifth Harmony so she could compete in the group category.
Camila Cabello and Fifth Harmony
Cowell's X-Factor girl band consisted of Cabello, Ally Brooke, Normani, Dinah Jane, and Lauren Jauregui.
After the 2012 season of The X-Factor concluded and Fifth Harmony came in third place, the group went on to achieve massive success. They signed to Cowell’s record label and released their debut album, Reflection, in 2015, and 7/27 in 2016.
Their hits included “Worth It” and “Work From Home,” which both made waves on the USA Billboard Top 40 charts.
Cabello announced her departure from the group in 2016.
What are Camila Cabello's biggest songs and albums?
Cabello's debut solo album, Camila, reached number one on the Billboard 200 and featured the smash hit singles “Havana" (which has been streamed nearly 2 billion times on Spotify alone) and “Never Be the Same."
Her second album, 2019's Romance, included "Señorita," another song that stampeded the charts. Her third album, Familia, dropped in April 2022, and her duet with Ed Sheeran on the song "Bam Bam" quickly became a fan-favorite.
Camila Cabello joined The Voice
In May 2022, it was announced that Cabello would join the Coaches lineup on Season 22 of The Voice. This wasn't the first time audiences saw her on the show: She had been an Advisor to Team Legend during Season 21.
Coaches John Legend and Gwen Stefani both had nothing but positive things to say about this exciting new addition. “I think she’s gonna be a great Coach,” Stefani eagerly commented.
Meanwhile, Legend told NBC Insider, "She was on Team Legend as my celebrity guest mentor, and I could tell she was really good at it. In fact, I told her, 'If a Coach opening ever comes up, you should do it because you'd be great at it.'"
What movies has Camila Cabello been in?
In 2021, Cabello starred in a film adaption of Cinderella. She later showed off her voice acting chops as Viva in Trolls Band Together (2023), alongside Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, and Saturday Night Live's Kenan Thompson.
