Days before her exit from Fifth Harmony was announced, Camila Cabello spoke with Lena Dunham for her Lenny newsletter and Women of the Hour podcast, discussing keeping one's sanity in the age of social media, her political engagement and expressing sexuality as a teenage pop star.

In the interview, Cabello credited her mother for helping her keep her sanity, keeping things in perspective as a Cuban immigrant with her story acting as a reminder of what's most important in life. As well, steering clear from social media has provided further assistance in keeping her grounded.

"The best decision that I've taken in my career thus far has been this year I've just stayed away from social media," Cabello said. "I don't go on it, and I just keep myself focused on getting better and growing as an artist and finding different ways to grow as a person. It's just kept me grounded, and I don't have 1,000 people thinking that they didn't like my shoes."

This was Cabello's first year as a voter and said -- in the face of racism around the presidential election -- as a Latina, she "felt a responsibility to stick up for my people and my culture."

"Now and forevermore, I'm going to stick up for immigrants and I'm going to stick up for Hispanic people and their rights," she said. "I feel like that's just my job."

When Dunham asked about the pressure on young women to "present themselves as full-time sex symbols" and how that has affected Cabello, the singer agreed that this has been an issue through her career. As well, in this context, she was sure to note her own love for Rihanna from "Planet Sexy."

"Especially with being a girl group, there's been a lot of times where people have tried to sexualize us to just get more attention. Unfortunately, sex sells," she said. "There's definitely been times where there's stuff that I have not been comfortable with and I've had to put my foot down. There's nothing wrong with showing sexuality. If you have that inside, it's just an expression of who you are. If you want to share that with people, that's amazing. I love that. Look at Rihanna. She's so sexy. She comes from Planet Sexy. I worship her. I really, really do."

Listen to the full interview here: