Camila Cabello Doubled Down on C,XOXO at Y100's Jingle Ball

Without a White Christmas and temperatures that rarely dip below the 50s, Miami has to follow its unique holiday traditions. We favor coquito over eggnog, get our "snow" from foam machines at Santa's Enchanted Forest —though, sadly, not this year — and, for more than two decades, have pregamed for nochebuena with Y100's pop-star-studded Jingle Ball concert.

The iHeartRadio showcase brings radio staples to town, plus up-and-comers it predicts will shape the future of commercial pop music. Sometimes, the crystal ball gets it right — the 2008 concert in Sunrise featured sets by Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga — while other times, the show can feel like a slog of false starts by untested neophytes that ultimately fail to launch. Saturday night's Jingle Ball concert at the Kaseya Center featured an atypical amount of industry vets (T-Pain, Jason Derulo), some newer faces that have gotten career boosts from TikTok (Isabel LaRosa), and even some industry vets that have gotten career boosts from TikTok (Tinashe). It all led up to a headlining set by hometown girl Camila Cabello, who sang her early-career hits alongside cuts from her latest album, the Miami love letter C, XOXO.
First, the lows: Saweetie, backed by two dancers and her DJ, rapped a few of her hits ("My Type," "Tap In," "Best Friend"), but she sucked the energy out of the room after a sweaty set from Jason Derulo. The crowd's reception barely registered above that reserved for the music between sets, and it's hard to understand why bookers placed her just two slots before the headliner when Wonho, Khalid, Tinashe, and even the Kid Laroi are much more energetic performers. Admittedly, this is a charitable take on the Kid Laroi, a white rapper with boy-band looks and vocals. Do we really need another one of these? I know Post Malone went country, but isn't Jack Harlow enough? Still, as much as I don't get the appeal — the audience's response was rapturous — the kid put everything into his set with high-octane performances of insufferable songs like "Baby I'm Back," the Miley Cyrus collaboration "Without You," and a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas." Maybe we can keep him and trade in Jack Harlow.

T-Pain was an odd choice for Jingle Ball, a showcase targeting younger music fans. But it appears songs that went hard at my college parties — "Low", "All I Do Is Win," "2 Step" — still resonate. It was sincerely gratifying to see someone who got the shit kicked out of him in the music industry receive the eager response he got in that arena from a whole new generation, this time as an independent artist. Similarly, Khalid, whose latest music has not reached the commercial heights of his early hits "Location" and "Young Dumb & Broke," nevertheless relished the audience's enthusiastic reception to his set. He seemed genuinely touched as the audience belted nearly every song, and he smiled widely as he took out his in-ear monitors to hear them better.
But the most euphoric response was reserved for 22-year-old singer-songwriter Benson Boone, who's been releasing music since 2021 but had his true breakout year in 2024 with the release of his debut album Fireworks & Rollerblades. Boone opened for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour in June, and he earned his first Grammy nomination last month. In February, he'll compete in the Best New Artist category against Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims. His Jingle Ball set was the last show of a nine-month tour and the practice shows. Literally leaping onto the stage — cartwheels and front flips are a staple of his hyperathletic shows — Boone's set was a reminder of Jingle Ball's most useful purpose, namely the chance to see artists with massive talent before Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model spoils the opportunity or renders it a luxury. There were glimmers of Freddie Mercury, Harry Styles, and even the Darkness during his set, which mainly included songs from Fireworks but also a performance of his new song "Young American Heart," which he says will be on his forthcoming sophomore album.

Boone's set was the one to beat, and there was a sizable exodus after he cartwheeled off the stage. But thousands stayed for the closing showcase by Camila Cabello, who was giddy at the prospect of bringing her latest album, C,XOXO, to the stage in Miami. "I wrote a whole album about being a Miami girl," Cabello practically squealed early in the set. "No one's gonna get it more or understand it more than the people in this room."
Indeed, C,XOXO, Cabello's fourth studio album as a solo artist, was fairly well-received by critics but lampooned by the general public, who were initially put off by the hyperpop misdirection of lead single "I Luv It" and an ill-timed multi-track collaboration with Drake. But six months in, fans are starting to come around, and C,XOXO is in play to face the same fate as Swift's Reputation, which was derided at the time of its release but has since been reclaimed by fans and critics alike.

Cabello seems to think so too because although she padded the set with fan favorites from her earlier discography ("Havana," "Señorita," "Never Be the Same"), she doubled down on her newfound baddie aesthetics and sang the album's "I Luv It" and City Girls collaboration "Dade County Dreaming." As an "I Luv It" skeptic, I'll admit the song works much better live. As a C,XOXO apologist, I sorely wished for the Pitbull sampling "B.O.A.T.," and I would have preferred "June Gloom" or bonus track "Godspeed" for her big ballad moment. Instead, Miami got another treat — the debut performance of "Move," her collaboration with German DJ Adam Port. Another surprise? Her performance of "Shameless," the song released in 2019's Romance, which garnered newfound appreciation just last year, leading to a re-evaluation and resurgence. By that playbook, perhaps there's still time for C,XOXO to catch on beyond the hometown crowd.