Shawn Admits To “Faking Sex” In A Past Romance On New Song

It sounds like from Shawn Mendes’ perspective, his past fling with Sabrina Carpenter was short, but not so sweet. Mendes provided some surprising insight into his former relationships on one of the tracks from his new album, Shawn. In “That’ll Be the Day,” Mendes appears to completely disregard his time with an ex as a waste of time, going so far as to say he was “faking sex.”

Although Mendes doesn’t reveal exactly who “That’ll Be the Day” is about, it seems to be a pretty obvious ode to his ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello. The two dated on-and-off for four years, inspiring several songs for one another with their roller-coaster relationship. “That’ll Be the Day” neatly falls into this category — a promise to a former flame that although they’re not together at the moment, he’ll love her until the day he dies.

In fact, Mendes reveals that his love is so strong, he can’t give himself to any other romantic partner:

I could pretend that I have a chance / At another romance, but, honey, in the end / Even if I tried, I’ll be wasting breath / I’ll be faking sex ’cause you’ll be on my mind

While the verse could apply to multiple exes the public doesn’t know about, the most notable allusion is to Mendes’ brief relationship with Carpenter in early 2023, and it adds to a growing web of songs dissecting what went wrong.

Mendes echoes this sentiment on another track, “In Between.” “If I’m not all in, then I’m all out,” Mendes sings of a failed relationship. He also points out his ex’s penchant for wordplay.

You were saying, “Guess I’ll see you never,” with tears in your eyes / It’s so like you to get clever when you don’t wanna cry / The way you hold a pen could make me fall in love / But I’m not there yet, so to you, it doesn’t mean too much

Shortly after Mendes was dating Carpenter in 2023, he was spotted kissing his ex Cabello at Coachella. Cabello detailed that reunion in her song “June Gloom,” and Carpenter also had a lot to say about how things went down on her 2024 album Short n’ Sweet. In particular, Carpenter’s song “Coincidence” is about an ex-boyfriend who always seemed hung up on his own ex, and snuck off to be with her. Carpenter’s single “Taste” is also about a recent ex who got back together with his ex.

This love triangle may have been messy, but at least it wound up inspiring a ton of great music.