Listen to Camila Cabello Cover a Who Classic for Diablo IV: ‘I Want to Live Outside of Reality’
Camila Cabello is lending her voice for a haunting reimagining of a classic by the Who. On Tuesday, Rolling Stone exclusively premieres the live-action cinematic trailer for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, soundtracked by a dark, evocative Cabello cover of “Behind Blue Eyes.”
The visual, directed by Jon Watts, follows the storyline of Diablo IV‘s protagonist Neyrelle as she goes on a dark, twisted journey into the fantasy world of Nahantu in search of the shining Soulstone. As the visual introduces Neyrelle’s Vessel of Hatred story, Cabello channels the Roger Daltrey-sung lyrics with a darker delivery and production by Noah Ehler and Jasper Harris.
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“I love the experience of almost acting while I’m singing,” Cabello tells Rolling Stone. “I love seeing the visual of the hero Neyrelle, and just trying to convey what she was feeling through my singing: that paranoia in the beginning, and then, her fighting spirit. Those qualities have been such a part of my journey.”
Plus, Cabello says, “I love me a little bit of drama.”
The video arrives just days before Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is set to launch on Oct. 8 across Xbox, BattleNet, Steam, PS4, and PS5.
Cabello says the “Behind Blue Eyes” cover aligns with the moodier elements of the Magic City Edition of her album C, XOXO, and hears her continue living in the fantasy world she created with the album.
“I really relate to that desire to escape into a world,” she says. “That’s why I read a lot of fiction. I just like escaping, and I think me and gamers have that in common.”
From behind-the-scenes of her Vessel of Hatred shoot, Cabello catches up with Rolling Stone about her new cover, “discovering” Elton John and the Beatles in her twenties, and why C, XOXO channels her “frustrated wannabe rapper” energy.
What was it like covering this song?
It’s so iconic. This is a classic song, and I hadn’t heard it before. That was what made me so excited to work with Diablo. I was like, “Wow, this is one of the greatest songs of all time.” I talked to my friends about it. I was like, “Oh, Diablo hit me up about working with them.” So many of my friends were so obsessed with the game. C,XOXO, she’s giving a little dark. She’s giving a little bit, nighttime vibes. So it just felt right.
And the lyrics, too, seem very dark and moody, which aligns with your album.
Totally. It feels like everybody can relate to the lyrics in the song. But then, also, as a public persona, some of the lines really jumped out at me. It’s a human experience. There are moments in your life where you’re flying, and there are moments in your life where you have to fight. It was cool to be able to just access those parts of me where you’re tired, but you have that strength in you that every person has. When there’s a hard time, you can always access that strength.
Your voice, and even some of the lyrics, reminded me of one of your first songs, “I Have Questions.”
Oh, my God, that’s so true. I think in pop music, you can’t super go there, in terms of pain, and the dramatic agony that comes with being a person sometimes. With pop, you don’t want to listen to that over and over again, so it’s cool to be able to do a song like this, or, “I Have Questions,” and just go there. It can feel very cathartic to sing that. It’s very cathartic to hear myself sing like that on this. Because I write all my songs, it’s so fun to cover something, because it’s melodies that I wouldn’t write. It’s things I wouldn’t normally do.
Earlier, you said you hadn’t heard that song before. I resonate with that because when I think of that era of music, I think of artists like Juan Gabriel, not necessarily the Who.
Yeah, just because I wasn’t raised in the United States, I’ve had to go and research American music. So artists like the Bee Gees and Elton John were people I found later in life. Like David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, that was stuff that I discovered when I was 22. I didn’t grow up listening to them. It’s such an immigrant experience. Ask me about José José, bro! I didn’t listen to the Beatles until I was in my early twenties, because I grew up in an immigrant household. My parents listened to Michael Jackson, and that’s pretty much it. And Latin artists.
With this cover, you might be introducing the Who to your own fans.
It’s so true. That was one of the most fun parts for me. Sheryl Crow and Limp Bizkit have covered it as well. I also feel like as a writer, it makes you better, too, because it’s always your hope to make a song like that, that is so classic. It’s like “Creep” by Radiohead that’s been covered so many times because it’s such a universal song. It’s a song that feels like it was always meant to have existed.
You mentioned that it lives in a darker world, like your last album. Are you staying in that dark world for a while?
I still need C, XOXO in my life. I’m living it in the sense of that kind of bravado that exists with the album. You just have to put on the ski mask. It’s almost like my interpretation of me being a rapper. I won’t ever be a rapper, but I’m a frustrated wannabe rapper, because I love what rap music gives me. It gives me that confidence, that bravado, that sense of control. C,XOXO is that. It’s not fake confidence. It’s like, “Yeah, I suffer. I feel anxious about this, I feel confused, but I’m going to do my makeup and I’m going to look incredible.”
Is there stuff in your past work you think you don’t necessarily connect with anymore?
I’ve always had a bit of a rebellious streak. I like doing things that feel like I’m innovating for myself, like I’m doing something I haven’t done before. Perhaps I’m doing a melody that feels weird or putting two styles together that normally wouldn’t go. Like “Chanel. No 5,” where it’s this soft piano, and these more aggressive drums. For me, it is about finding that strangeness, because I think I, deep down, feel a little bit strange. Capturing that in my music is when I feel really great. The times I feel I’ve maybe outgrown in my music, is when I feel like I’m being a stereotype of something: stereotypically sexual, stereotypically happy. Whenever it feels a little bit more generic, I’m not happy with that. I think that’s why C,XOXO feels so good. I don’t like being completely emo, I don’t like being completely happy. I really like the combination of things.
You mention embracing all sides of yourself, and I feel like a lot of times, gamers feel like outsiders. How do you think this collaboration will connect to them?
I was talking about this with someone today. I want to live outside of reality. I want to live in this fantasy. That’s why the C,XOXO live show is so fun, because it feels like for a second, I’m stepping into this fantasy with these girls, and with these bikers, and we’re in this haunting eternal summer night. And C,XOXO feels like this Miami spring breakers fantasy. My last album, Familia, felt like a Pedro Almodóvar fantasy. I really relate to that desire to escape to this world or to escape to something.
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