Q&A: ‘Take My Bones’ Camylio Declares on Debut Album
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
Photo by Zane Batal
“MANY PEOPLE HAVE GONE THROUGH THAT FEELING—of being on the precipice, giving themselves to a person, and wanting them to dive into the deep end. But what’s a way that someone hasn’t said it yet? For [me], it was, ‘Take my bones.’”
New York-raised, LA-based Camylio has built a reputation around devotion. Writing about love, his lyrics are almost obsessive. His songs have become hits within the #BookTok community which he takes inspiration from too, expressing, “I’ve fallen in love with darker metaphors. I’ve had a lot of influence from the #BookTok community, like enemies to lovers and darker themes.”
With his debut album Take My Bones, Camylio introduces an element of safety. For example, on “fall into you,” he sings, “All the broken memories of all the pain I used to bleed / Is ash and dust when you’re in front of me.” It’s no longer only about mesmerization—it’s about finding rest in someone you love and allowing them to lighten up your darkness.
While Take My Bones is Camylio’s debut album, it follows four previously released EPs. Rather than an introduction, the album is a confident showcase of how Camylio has grown over the years—especially instrumentally. He shines as a multi-instrumentalist across the tracklist. A song like “ashes” is piano-led, while “how far down” booms with drums. A cello, originally belonging to Livingston, makes an appearance on “fall into you” which Camylio describes as one of his favorite parts of the album.
Lyrically, Camylio pulls from his truth which allows him to build community. He shares, “The most exciting thing that I get to experience is the comments of people sharing their own stories. It’s exciting no matter how somebody engages with the songs, but there’s a massive difference when [someone says,] ‘Wow, this really reminded me of exactly what I’ve gone through.’ Anytime you can get somebody else to be vulnerable and share their story is one of the most special things.”
Read Luna’s full conversation with Camylio below.
Photo by Zane Batal
LUNA: The first track on the album, “psycho,” starts with distortion while the final track, “ashes,” ends with a gentle piano. I love that sharp contrast and the journey of where the album starts versus where we end up. Was there a specific pace you were hoping to achieve?
CAMYLIO: Absolutely. I feel this as an emotional growing up, especially in the romantic context. Like others, I have had my fair share of situationships and less-than-healthy relationships. I think you can feel that in the first couple of songs; there’s a tension. My goal is for it to soften over the course of the project and land the narrator at a more content, happy place. From the day we wrote “ashes,” it always felt like the perfect way to play out the album.
LUNA: I felt that turn begin at “gravity.”
CAMYLIO: A hundred percent. I was a little nervous because a common way people structure albums, also setlists, is to sandwich the softer songs in between then bring everything back up at the end. I knew that my story wasn’t that. For me, the story of Take My Bones is a devoted and tense start to this love story. You’re chasing and chasing, and it eventually matures into something stable and beautiful. “Gravity” is definitely a turning point in that.
LUNA: This album is instrumentally rich. How do you find a balance that feels right while still presenting such a diversity of sounds?
CAMYLIO: That was the thing that stressed me out the most—making so many different things, trying to write freely, then realizing it needs to feel cohesive. I knew that my voice tended to make everything feel similar. I think that’s something for a lot of artists. You’d be amazed when it’s you singing in the same way; how you can get things to come together. Beyond that, I knew that guitar was going to be a huge part of this project, even in the softer songs. I wanted a blues influence throughout and I’m really proud of the way it has weaved its way across the project.
LUNA: Instrumentally, “fall into you” is a stand-out track. Tell me about the strings on that song and how that part of it came together.
CAMYLIO: I was writing with my good friend Joe Janiak. On the first day, we wrote “steal some love.” I have a cello in the corner of my studio and at the end of that day, he grabbed the cello and was like, “Can you play this?” I was like, “Kind of, not fantastically.” He took the bow, made a million sounds, and at some point found it. It went from us messing around to, “Hold on, we should voice note this.”
The final strings that became “fall into you” is this Frankenstein of three minutes cut down to 15 seconds or so of the best parts. We listened to it back before wrapping up and we were like, “I guess we’re going to do that tomorrow.” The next day, the song just poured out and wrote itself. I think there’s something really emotional about those strings. It’s one of my favorite parts of the album.
LUNA: People have been writing about love as long as people have been around. When you’re creating something new in a space that has so much music about it already, what’s different about your approach?
CAMYLIO: Everyone’s unique experience, while they have common themes, is always going to be different. Two people can go through a heartbreak 20 different ways. They might understand the big picture feeling, but the details will always be special to them and different. For me, I’m not trying to rewrite the book; I’m just trying to be honest. I know that the more honest you are, the more unique you are.
My favorite lyrics are quirky ways to say something that has been said, like finding a phrase or a certain word as a metaphor to address something that we all can understand. Many people have gone through that feeling of being on the precipice, giving themselves to a person and wanting them to dive into the deep end. But what’s a way that someone hasn’t said it yet? For [me], it was, “Take my bones.” Every last piece of my being. It’s a combination of not trying to be different, then finding words to say something new.
LUNA: On that note, you have an older song called “bones” and now we have Take My Bones. What about that imagery of bones has changed for you over the years?
CAMYLIO: Part of it is finding yourself. I got really into music in a really public way when I was 18 or 19. Now, I’m turning 25 soon. I think I didn’t perfectly understand who I wanted to be as an artist back then. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with darker metaphors, always in the spirit of devotion. I’ve had a lot of influence from the #BookTok community, like enemies to lovers and darker themes. “Bones” is actually similar [through lyrics like] “These bones won’t break.” Not a single person has mentioned “bones” to me in the last two years making this album, that’s amazing!
LUNA: What are the biggest lessons you picked up from working on your debut album?
CAMYLIO: You have to write freely and you have to allow yourself to be experimental, even in the pursuit of something that you think is defined. Some of my favorite moments, like “fall into you,” [I knew] the guiding stars of the vision, yet [there was] allowance of, “Let’s see where this goes.” It turned into one of my favorite songs on the entire project and it’s a song that, I’ve heard from a lot of people, resonates.
There are so many things going on in your brain at once, especially when you have so many different songs. You’re trying to wrangle this narrative and put it all together. We took inspiration from Charli xcx when she did her BRAT rollout. She had posted a manifesto that she wrote. My creative director and I we were like, “We need a manifesto or something that says, ‘This is what it is.’” I’ve learned that your guiding star is going to pull you through it when you feel like you’re getting lost. You have to be free, but you have to know where you’re stumbling and in what direction.
Photo by Zane Batal
