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Sabrina Carpenter is fresh off her latest album release, Short ‘n Sweet, but her album is drawing some eyebrows at the references to her rumored ex, Shawn Mendes, and his on-and-off-again girlfriend Camila Cabello.
You might know Sabrina Carpenter for begging Barry Keoghan not to embarrass her in “Please, Please, Please.” The singer and the actor are currently dating, but things seem to have cooled off between them, and are reportedly no longer matching each other’s freak. Before dating Keoghan, though, Sabrina was seeing Shawn Mendes.
Mendes might look like he can treat you better but it seems like he can’t. From allegedly dating his chiropractor to getting back with Camila Cabello, the Canadian superstar doesn’t seem to find The One, or at least commit to one. Briefly, though, he was Sabrina Carpenter’s love interest, and here’s what we know.
There are clues that Carpenter and Mendes might’ve dated starting January 2023. An anonymous insider tipped popular celebrity gossip account DeuxMoi, noting that “Spotted Shawn Mendes and Sabrina Carpenter on clearly a date at Horses anon pls. Thursday night.” Pressed for more details, the insider explained that, “Sabrina was in a little brown miniskirt and clearly was Shawn newly shaved head wearing white sweater. They were verrrry comfortable.” For the next couple of months, the two were seen walking together, hanging out, or leaving events together.
Eagle-eyed fans noted that Shawn had worn a necklace with Sabrina’s birthstone since January of that year. A source confirmed the two were dating to Entertainment Tonight in March 2023 but, shortly after, Shawn Mendes publicly denied dating Sabrina Carpenter. For what it’s worth, he also denied if he was dating Camila Cabello when they were together, which doesn’t actually mean anything.
The relationship didn’t work out, and both moved on. Mendes rekindled his relationship with Cabello a couple of times, and it’s unclear what his current relationship status is.
However, Mendes and Cabello go way back. They first met when they opened for Austin Mahone’s Live on Tour in 2014, and released their first song together, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” in 2015. They reunited backstage during Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour. They became close friends and denied relationship rumors until they started dating in 2019. Sabrina and Camila were also supportive of each other and interacted online between 2015 and 2018.
The same day they were spotted together, with Carpenter wearing one of Mendes’ hoodies, Cabello liked a video of Carpenter’s BBC 1 performance. Carpenter’s “Coincidence” talks about the ex of the man she’s dating has a “sixth sense” and knows they’re dating.
Cabello’s new album, C, XOXO, which she released in June 2024, also seems to include references to her relationship with Mendes and his stint when he was dating Carpenter in a conversation in “June Gloom.” Mendes’ latest songs also mention June.
Although Sabrina is not naming any names on her new album, several lyrics speak on their own. The first song, “Taste,” seems to be a direct reference to Mendes, while also seemingly addressing Cabello. “You’re wonderin’ why half his clothes went missin’ / My body’s where they at.” The song is about being caught in an on-and-off-again relationship, which could very well describe Mendes and Cabello’s situationship, who dated for more than two years before calling it quits in 2012 and briefly reuniting in 2023. “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, I bet you do / Just know you’ll taste me too,” Carpenter sings.
Other songs, like “Dumb & Poetic” and “Sharpest Tool,” also seem to point to Mendes, who was spotted kissing Cabello again in April 2023, just a couple of months after he and Carpenter were spotted together.
Every artist who writes their own music uses inspiration from their personal life but that doesn’t necessarily mean Carpenter is talking about Mendes. She might as well be a general reference and her situationship with the “Mercy” star might not even be on her mind when she stays late because she’s a singer. But what if he is?