Here Are All The Likely Shawn Mendes References You Might’ve Missed On Camila Cabello’s ‘Romance’
“These songs are basically the story of my life the past couple years.”
Camila Cabello just dropped her sophomore album, Romance—and fans are already putting in the detective work to figure out which lines refer to her boyfriend and collaborator, Shawn Mendes.
The pop star previously wrote about how Romance centers on her experience of falling in love. “I just wanted this album to sound like what falling in love feels like, pretty impossible thing to do but I can say I gave it all I had,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never lived as much life as I did writing this album. It was messy, and beautiful, unforgettable and at times so painful I wish I could forget, it was excruciatingly consuming and impossible not to get lost in.”
As Genius user, @tirelessmess points out, she confirmed that Mendes inspired some of the personal stories behind the album in an interview with Lorraine. When asked if any of the songs were about him, she said: “Towards the end [of writing], there were. Yeah… That’s the great thing about songwriting, you get to chronicle your life.”
There’s a line she won’t cross when she writes lyrics about real people. “Now I’m in this situation where these people know that [my songs] would be about them,” she told Lorraine. “So it’s super uncomfortable… Sometimes you do have to sacrifice stuff for the other person’s emotions. Sometimes I’m like, ‘I won’t put that line in there… because I know that it will hurt this person’s feelings.’”
Still, a few breadcrumbs lead back to her new beau. Before the friends-to-lovers pairing was confirmed, their steamy duet, “Señorita,” played on their well-documented friendship:
You say we’re just friends
But friends don’t know the way you taste, la-la-la (La, la, la)
A different version of this will-they-won’t-they tension plays out on “Bad Kind of Butterflies,” where she confronts that she has feelings a friend—while she’s already in a relationship:
I know I said we were friends
And when I said that, I meant it (Swear I meant it)
Somewhere between now and then
It became more than just a friendship (Mm)
After Cabello’s relationship with Matthew Hussey ended in late June, she officially started dating Mendes on July 4.
Then there’s “Dream of You,” which opens with a character study that has a lot in common with Mendes:
He’s a bad dancer, he’s a right answer
He’s a shy singer most of the time
Unless it’s him and I
He’s an over-thinker, he’s a slow kisser
As Elle pointed out, Mendes revealed in a behind-the-scenes video for “Señorita” that “This is my worst nightmare… having to dance.”
Cabello previously said that “Used to This” was the “last song that I wrote for my album and that was the end chapter of Romance,” according to PEOPLE. It was widely reported that the celebrity couple shared a kiss in San Francisco, and this song was reportedly put together a day after the trip. She opens the track with the lines:
No, I never liked San Francisco
Never thought it was nothin' special
‘Til you kissed me there
“Should’ve Said It” presents more of a gray area, but it’s well-known that she developed a long-standing friendship with Mendes after they met on tour in 2014. She laments poor timing on the accusatory track:
So you want me now? That’s funny
‘Cause you didn’t give a… back then
Comin’ back around, so sorry
‘Cause there’s no room in my bed
And I’m all good now, someone else is gettin’ all of me (Ah)
If you wanted me so desperately, you shoulda said it
Cabello previously spoke about the direction of her album in a press statement. “These songs are basically the story of my life the past couple years and the stories I’ve accumulated,” she said. “I knew for a long time I wanted my album to be called Romance because these stories are about falling in love.”
The former Fifth Harmony member also worked with DaBaby, and the LP is led by previously released singles that include “Shameless,” “Liar,” and “Easy.”
Read all the lyrics to Romance on Genius now.
