Inside Shawn Mendes' heated 'love triangle' with Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter

Shawn Mendes found himself at the centre of rumours surrounding a scandalous love triangle with two of the biggest stars of the moment - Sabrina Carpenter and Camila Cabello.

The 26-year-old, who has now candidly addressed speculation over his sexuality following speculation around his deeply personal lyrics, was in a relationship with longtime pal Camila for two years, with romance rumours first starting to swirl following the release of their steamy summer anthem Señorita, released in July 2019.

Later that same month, photos emerged of the friend-to-lovers pair kissing in a Miami Beach swimming pool, confirming the electric chemistry seen in the sultry music video was no act. They quickly became inseparable, making a joint appearance at the VMA Awards, and moving into a New York City apartment together.

And although there were whispers at the time that the relationship was a mere publicity stunt, both Shawn and Camila, 27, remained adamant they were the real deal. Indeed, during a gushing September 2019 interview with ELLE, Camila revealed she'd fallen head over heels in love with Shawn, admitting: "Honestly, this past year and a half was the first time I really experienced falling in love with another person."

By November 2021 however, their shared passion appeared to have cooled, with the couple announcing they were parting ways amicably in a joint statement, declaring, "We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends." This was far from the end of the story, however...

'Short n' sweet' romance

Enter Sabrina, whose track Espresso dominated the airwaves this summer. She and Shawn were allegedly romantically linked in early 2023, when they were spotted looking cosy on a number of occasions, including at the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party, and Miley Cyrus’s album release. Some fans even speculated that Shawn had been wearing a necklace with Sabrina’s birthstone for months.

In March of that year, a source told Entertainment Tonight: "Shawn and Sabrina are seeing each other. They have been hanging out a lot and trying to keep things low-key. They were at a birthday party together a couple of weeks ago and were cute together. Shawn is happy."

Shortly afterwards, Shawn denied there was anything going on between them, telling Dutch TV program RTL Boulevard: "We are not dating." However, given that Shawn had previously denied a romantic connection with Camila during their early days of courtship, some fans were left decidedly less than convinced.

Rekindled flames

Whatever went down between the pair, by April it was all over, with Shawn briefly reconciling with old flame Camila. The pair were seen locking lips at the Coachella music festival. A source told Entertainment Tonight at the time: "Shawn and Camila aren't officially back together, but they are enjoying each other's company and seeing where things go.

"When they met up and kissed at Coachella, they were having fun and being in the moment together. They are both attracted to each other and care about one another a lot. They are having fun."

By June, their rekindled attraction had fizzled out once more, and Camila later reflected that "it wasn't even like a decision." In March 2024, as reported by Billboard, Camila shared: "I think you're just kind of like, 'Yeah this doesn't really…it's not a fit—it doesn't feel right'.

"Luckily, I was in a place in my life where…it took us both less time to be like, 'This doesn't feel right, and we don't really need to try so hard to make it work. It's all good, let's move on'."

Music inspiration

Back in August, Sabrina released her sixth studio album Short n' Sweet - which she confirmed wasn't a reference to her petite 5ft stature. In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, the 25-year-old explained: "I called it Short n' Sweet for multiple reasons. It was not because I'm vertically challenged. I thought about some of these relationships and how some of them were the shortest I've ever had, and they affected me the most."

Some fans have theorised that her alleged fling with Shawn, which was indeed brief yet widely discussed, could have provided inspiration for the album title. Interestingly, this appears to be backed up by the lyrics in a number of her catchy tracks, which some believe refer to the supposed love triangle she found herself in with Shawn and Camila.

In Dumb & Poetic, Sabrina takes aim at a former lover who reads 'every self-help book', and tries to come off like he's 'soft and well-spoken'. Meanwhile, in Coincidence, Sabrina tells of a beau who gets back with a former flame after pledging his commitment.

She sings: "Last week, you didn’t have any doubts/This week, you're holding space for her tongue in your mouth/Now she's sendin’ you some pictures wearin' less and less/Tryna turn the past into the present tense, huh/Suckin' up to all of your mutual friends."

The track that has garnered the most attention on this matter however has to be Taste, which includes lyrics which explicitly refer to a steamy love triangle. The pointed chorus goes as follows: "I heard you're back together and if that's true/You'll just have to taste me when he's kissin' you/If you want forever, and I bet you do/Just know you'll taste me too."

Fans also couldn't help but notice that actress Jenny Ortega, who plays Sabrina's rival in the bloody music video, bears a striking resemblance to Camila, who has since appeared to hit back with her new track, Can Friends Kiss? In this track, Camila admits to tempting an ex, who is now just a friend, away from his new girl, confessing: "I don't like your new girl, she don't move me/When you talk about her, I get moody."

Earlier this month, while appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast, host Alex Cooper asked Camila: "Never have I ever had a song written about me." Choosing not to skip the challenge, Camila bluntly divulged: "You know what, I have been lucky to contribute in many ways to the great music of the 21st century." She added: "Sometimes I have written them. Sometimes they have been written about me. You’re welcome, motherf*****s."

Shawn, Camila and Sabrina all appeared at this year's VMA Awards, and fans couldn't help but wonder how awkward things could potentially get for the trio. In an apparent nod to the widely discussed tension, Shawn took to Instagram ahead of his arrival, captioning his pics 'pulling up to my own funeral'.

Camila also pulled from funereal imagery during an interview with Billboard at the same event, declaring: "I'm in my 'GODSPEED' era, and that song is very much about letting go of everything that does not serve you. So I kind of am having a funeral today for just everything that is negative…"

Sexuality admission

Shawn recently opened up about the speculation over his sexuality ahead of the release of his upcoming album on November 15, with new track The Mountain addressing rumours head-on. As per the deeply personal lyrics: "You can say I'm too young / You can say I'm too old / You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever fits your mould / You can say I'm a fool / You can say I'm a dreamer / You can say I'm too far gonе / But I've never felt better / So call it what you want."

Footage which has been widely shared via social media, which The Sun reports was filmed at a gig in Colorado on Monday, October 28, shows Shawn speaking candidly ahead of performing the song, revealing that being in the spotlight since the age of 15 has meant he didn't get to 'discover parts of' himself.

Shawn told fans: "Since I was really young, there's this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it for so long. I think it's kind of silly, because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing, and it's so hard to just put into boxes. It always felt like [it's] such intrusion on something very personal to me. Something that I was figuring out in myself, something that I had yet to discover and still have yet to discover."

He continued: "The truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I'm just figuring it out like everyone. And I don't really know sometimes and I know other times. And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. And I'm trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things."

During a 2020 interview on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, Shawn spoke of how he'd found constant conversations about his sexuality to be distressing. Shawn shared: "Everyone's been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I'm not gay and I'm like, 'What does that mean?' I had problems with the way my voice sounded. I'm like, 'How do I sit?' I'm always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that s***."

He added: "It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very, very close to, who were gay and in the closet. And I felt this real anger for those people. It's such a tricky thing."

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads