Was Camila Cabello ever a contestant on ‘The Voice?’

With a new The Voice season right around the corner, new and old coaches have come together to reminisce about their time on the show, even Coach Camila Cabello – much to everyone’s surprise. Ahead of her debut as a coach for The Voice season 22, Cabello, who has never starred on the show before, admitted to having auditioned for the show before getting her breakthrough during the X-Factor.

Cabello’s musical career got its kickstart after the singer auditioned for the X Factor in 2012, being placed in a girl group called Fifth Harmony. The group, originally composed of five members including Cabello, has been active since 2012, with popular songs attached to their repertoire, including “Worth It” and “Work From Home”. In December 2016, Cabello departed from the group, opting to pursue her solo career, which has proven to be incredibly successful.

In spite of her participation as a contestant in the X Factor, Cabello admitted to giving it a go on The Voice back in the day. “The truth is – I actually did audition for The Voice,” the “Havana” singer said prompting surprised gasps and reactions out from all the other coaches. The conversation even led to which coach would’ve Cabello picked, to which she admitted she would have gone with either Adam Levine or Christina Aguilera, due to her preference for pop and R&B, which also drew a reaction out of Coach Blake Shelton, who wittingly contested “You don’t think of me when you think of pop?!”. Gwen Stefani and John Legend reacted accordingly and immediately voiced their surprise.

Much to everyone’s delight, the revelations did not end there. The “Cool” singer also went on to explain why exactly she opted to pursue the X Factor route instead, admitting to being completely infatuated with a certain British boy band.  “I wanted to meet One Direction because I was in love with Harry Styles,” Cabello explained, showing that her fangirl love was the main reason as to why she eventually chose the X Factor. At the same time, One Direction has been a part of the U.K. version of the show, but the singer was undoubtedly hopeful about their eventual crossing paths, which eventually did happen. “I knew they were gonna perform there, and they did, they performed there literally the second week of live shows.”.

Although unintentional, the singer’s life choices proved to be a happy accident, showing that anyone can pursue their dreams and meet Harry Styles along the way. Cabello will be found on the talent show stage again, this time as a coach on the new season of The Voice USA, on Monday, Sept.19 on NBC.