The Hurting, the Healing, the Loving. (Camren)

Ch. 2 | The X Factor

Let's start from the beginning, way back before my life changed completely, this way you'll understand everything better.

I was born on March 3, 1997, in Cojimar, Eastern Havana, Cuba.

Moving back and forth with my parents Sinuhe and Alejandro between Havana and Mexico City wasn't easy but we finally settled in Miami, Florida, in the United States when I was five years old.

There were some complications because my papá is Mexican and didn't have a visa, so my mamá and I had to do this on our own. My mamá told me that we were going to Disneyland so I won't worry about all this. I even had a Disney calendar where I marked the X-es until my papá came.

I have so much respect for my parents, especially my mamá, because she had to give up her dream job, as an architect and had to work up slowly in the U.S.

I acquired American citizenship in 2008 and attended Miami Palmetto High School. I had to leave in the 2012–2013 school year, while I was in 9th grade, to pursue my singing career. I later earned my high school diploma.

Back then I was a very shy and insecure little girl. I never sang in front of my family but I recorded myself while singing and put at least 20 videos of me singing on my Youtube channel 'karlacabello'. There is only one video out there now since I deleted the rest, it's my cover of Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper".

I never would have thought that one year later I'd get to sing in front of Demi as I auditioned for 'The X Factor' in Greensboro, North Carolina with Aretha Franklin's "Respect", however, my audition wasn't aired because the series didn't get the rights for the song.

Honestly, this audition was one of the most stressing and nerve-wracking things I ever had to go through because I nearly didn't even get the chance to audition in the first place.

Before I got the chance to audition in front of the prominent judges, I of course performed in front of some other producers of the show and finally got the letter after some days. I wasn't very pleased with the letter because it said that I'm just an alternate.

What's an alternate? Well, being an alternate basically means that you are not guaranteed a spot to audition in front of the actual judges, you can only audition if there is time at the end of the show.

The auditions were all the way up in North Carolina, so my whole family and I traveled to the auditions to see if MAYBE I could audition in those three days. At the airport, I met a green-eyed girl, with the same dreams, you probably already know who I'm talking about, but we'll get to that later.

We arrived there the first day and it was my turn. I was about to go on stage and sing, holding my microphone tight in my hand that already felt very sweaty because of how nervous I was, I took a deep breath when suddenly a producer came towards me and told me that there is not enough time left for my performance.

So as the days kept going my name kept going down and down on the list because there are different alternates for every day, technically it wasn't worth waiting anymore cause the other alternates were before me but I didn't give up.

Day two was so intense, basically, the same thing happened and my grandma and I were crying backstage because it seemed so hopeless, and the producers that were backstage weren't helping the situation. On the contrary, they were like, "honestly you shouldn't come at all anymore because we don't want to see you and your family disappointed. Even if you come tomorrow there won't be any room for you to audition. I honestly think that you should just go home and try again next year."

Before I was about to freak out I saw the one and only, Simon Cowell, walking out behind the stage and ran towards him, asking him if I could audition, because they didn't want to let me audition.

Simon and all the other judges of the show don't have any idea how the alternate process actually works, they just see people walking out on the stage, give them a 'yes', or whatever, so he smiled at me was like, "Oh yeah, of course, you can audition!"

I couldn't stay calm anymore, immediately turning over to the executive producer and shouting, "Don't you see?? He's Simon Cowell and he told me that I can audition, can I please come back tomorrow?"

So basically, to sum up this story, they saw how persistent I was and how much I wanted to be there because I ended up crying in front of the producer and told him, "You know what, you don't even have to put me as an alternate tomorrow, I just wanna be in this building to know that I did everything that I could, to know that if there was maybe a 1% chance that I'm allowed to audition that I'm still here, waiting."

The next day, July 10, 2012, I got my chance, and the judges were impressed, but the drama wasn't over.

After my elimination during the "boot camp" portion of the process in Miami, Florida, I thought that everything I tried didn't matter anymore, because it felt like it finished before it even started. So I was even more surprised when I was called back to the stage along with other contestants named Dinah Jane, Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, and Lauren Jauregui.

I didn't know them, except for the green-eyed girl named Lauren, since we were both from Miami and were in the same plane when we flew to the auditions. I was kind of glad that I didn't have to stand on the stage alone at that moment cause I already felt like crying again. All five of us stood confused on the stage, they didn't tell us why they called us back and we were just standing nervously in front of the Judges, Demi Lovato, Brittney Spears, L.A. Reid and of course Simon Cowell, waiting for the reason why they got us back.

Simon instructed us where to stay, so the girls and I stood on the left-hand side, and two other groups stood next to us. Now we were even more confused, waiting for Simon to be more precise when he finally said, "You are all together, as you are invited to the judges' houses."

We couldn't believe what we heard, it wasn't over, not at all, it was the beginning of something beautiful. I and the girls were screaming of happiness, hugging each other even though we didn't know each other back then. Little did we know that we would become the greatest girl group of this century, known as 'Fifth Harmony'.

These girls became my best friends. Working together every day and getting to know each other more and more, made us harmonize perfectly. We got further than we imagined, finishing in third place on the show. We even signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic record, L.A. Reid's record label. I'll get back to that later.

Now, it's time for the story of this album, my story.