Amor en Camila’s “Todo Cambió”
Graphic designed by Leslie Juan
Love songs that transcend languages produce a universal feeling. From the oldies such as “I Only Have Eyes For You” by the Flamingos or to Daniel Ceasar’s R&B hit “Best Part” featuring H.E.R, love songs captivate audiences across generations and genres. Even so, Spanish-language music has its own love songs ranging from mariachi, bachata, and pop hits. One of the biggest love songs is “Todo Cambió” by Camila.
Camila is a pop rock band from Mexico established in 2005 by singer Mario Domm, who later recruited fellow musical artists Pablo Hurtado and Samuel Parra to join. Just a year later in 2006, Camila released their debut album Todo Cambió, which includes a song by the same title. Their Latin Grammy-nominated song, “Todo Cambió,” tells the story of someone’s life changing after falling in love.
The song starts off with,
“Todo cambió cuando te vi, [oh, oh, oh]
These lyrics express how his perspective of life was black and white, but he felt so captivated by her that he began to see his life in colors. The feeling of falling in love is often paired with visuals of immense color, most commonly the color red.
The end of the verse happens to be one of the most artistic lyrics to describe love, although the beginning of the first verse opens up to a very romantic visual.
“El universo escribió que fueras para mí, uh
Y fue tan fácil quererte tanto, algo que no imaginaba
Fue perderme en tu amor, simplemente pasó y todo tuyo ya soy”
Allowing the universe to be the reason one becomes head over heels toward someone else is one of the biggest themes in love. People usually believe in fate and in the idea that one’s pursuits were pre-chosen for them. Here, in the end of the first verse, the symbolism of fate is followed by devoting yourself to your partner since it’s easy to get lost in their love. Camila’s lyricism emphasizes passionate and almost spiritual connections about one’s love.
After the first verse the chorus is introduced with the following lyrics,
“Antes que pase más tiempo contigo, amor.
Tengo que decir que eres el amor de mi vida.”
The words used to frame the chorus set the mood of yearning and wanting to express one’s love. Additionally, the rest of the chorus reads,
These lyrics further express how it feels to pine over someone, desperately wanting to tell them how much they mean to you. Camila describes the complexity of falling in love, which is relatable. A common troupe when discussing the feeling of falling in love or love at first sight. Camila illustrates this by ending the chorus with the line, “Simplemente así lo sentí cuando te vi, ¡huh!” which entails how simple and easy it was to fall in love.
Although “Todo Cambió” was written and released over 19 years ago, the lyrics and overall message still stick with people to this day. The song expresses wanting to convey your love for someone before any more time passes. As the title mentions, everything changes when love is introduced into one’s life. So if you’re looking for a song to listen to when you’ve caught feelings for that special someone or even to post your partner to, take a listen to Camila’s “Todo Cambió.”
