Camila Cabello and Lil Nas X Drop ‘He Knows’ Collaboration

Camila Cabello is back with another hyperactive pop bop — this time, with Lil Nas X.

The two collaborators were spotted together at the 2024 Met Gala on Monday, May 6, where they posed for photos together and seemingly teased the arrival of their upbeat collab, titled “He Knows.” The Pablo “El Guincho” Díaz-Reixa and Jasper Harris-produced track is the latest single from Cabello’s forthcoming album C, XOXO, out on June 28.

Released at midnight on Friday, “He Knows” is a playful yet seductive track where Cabello, 27, teases a cat-and-mouse game with a smitten suitor, singing over the catchy clapping beat, “I think he knows / When I play with him like that / When I say it to him like that / Have my way with him like that / I think he knows (He knows).” 

The singer then follows up with previously-teased lyrics from her first verse, singing, “She’s a provocateur / Dancefloor connoisseur / S— week, so Friday for sure (Sure, yeah) / Tell the girls we’re takin’ a detour (‘Tour) / Give him hell, yeah / Give these boys hell, yeah / She does it well, ah-yeah / I do it myself, ah-yeah.”

Lil Nas X, 25, chimes in later in the song with lines like, “On the real, I’ma take his soul (All that) / I’ma take him from his hoes (OK) / On the real, I think he knows.”

Cabello and Lil Nas X announced their collaboration on social media on Wednesday, unveiling the single’s cover art that sees the two embracing with a close-up on their bejeweled hands. 

Prior to teaming up with Lil Nas X, Cabello released her Playboi Carti-assisted headbanger “I Luv It” on March 27, making it the first single from C, XOXO. Earlier this week, the “My Oh My” singer revealed her album’s cover artwork and release date, as well as a self-narrated trailer to further tease the summertime project.

Speaking to Paper magazine recently about her upcoming album, Cabello shared that she wanted to try something different in terms of switching up her creative process. “[Before making this album], the last thing I had done was a remix of a Stromae song [“Mon Amour”], where I hopped in the booth and wrote something on my own,” she said. “I really like how that process made me feel and I loved the results of it.”

The former Fifth Harmony singer also opened up about using her new album to reclaim the time she lost being swept up in the pop machine during her girl group years. “I had so much time to myself in hotel rooms and on tour buses to develop an inner world, but my relationship with the outer world felt immature,” she admitted. 

“[I became an] experience junkie. It was my ‘year of yes,’” the Familia artist added of what inspired C, XOXO. “A huge part of this album was having the time to date and build on the relationships with my friends that weren’t super nourished.”

Ahead of C, XOXO’s release, Cabello is set to perform at this year’s Rock In Rio Lisboa on June 23 and the Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. on June 26. Listen to her new track “He Knows” with Lil Nas X above.