Camila Cabello & Shawn Mendes’ Relationship Timeline Is A Lesson In Playing The Long Game

The end of the decade saw many long-term couples part ways, from Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus to Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner. Alas, when a breakup takes a celebrity couple from us, Hollywood births a new one. After years of friendship, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello became an official thing, their new romance marked by make-outs all over the world (just not on the VMA stage, apparently). 

Now, Cabello has dropped a new album, Romance, which is full of love for Mendes. While 2019 made Shawmila official, it wasn’t the start of the relationship between this pop star couple. So how did this celebrity couple happen? Here’s a timeline for all you Shawmila stans out there. 

Cabello noted in their conversation for V magazine that she and Mendes met when Mendes and Cabello’s then-girl group Fifth Harmony opened up for Austin Mahone. Despite her best efforts, Mendes seemingly didn’t want to hang out much. 

“I remember I wanted to hang out with you, but you were always on the tour bus, just learning guitar,” Cabello told her boyfriend in their interview. Mendes added that Cabello was the only person who would “talk” to him on the tour, and that he thought she was “insane.” 

I thought you were out of your mind. I’d be in my bus where no one could see me. I’d be looking through the window and I’d see you like, flying around on a scooter and jumping and doing cartwheels. I’d be like, she’s insane. Close the window and go to sleep,” he joked. 

“shawnyboy!!!! gonna miss ya man,” Cabello tweeted. “you rock but you would rock more if you laughed when i said uteruses before duderuses. JK ILY.” (Remember how Mendes called her “insane” earlier? May have been because of tweets like this!) 

On Watch What Happens Live! Andy Cohen — always the one to put a celeb on the spot — had Cabello raise her hand to reveal she is, in fact, dating the man Fifth Harmony opened up for that summer. The couple split up two weeks after the Cohen interview. 

Fifth Harmony and Mendes once again opened up for a pop act, this time for Taylor Swift’s huge 1989 tour. They seemingly get close during their time together, with Mendes even declaring on Twitter that Cabello is “the worst at texting.” Fans immediately sensed sparks. The two wrote their single “I Know What You Did Last Summer” together at a “random jam session” backstage on tour, Cabello confirmed via Twitter in November. 

When Mendes tweeted that he’s going to try to learn Spanish again, Cabello offered to hook him up with a tutor. Cue potential flirting? 

“don't worry, you'll learn fast because you have an INCREDIBLE Spanish teacher whose name rhymes with Vamila Carmello,” the singer wrote on Twitter. 

Mendes, meanwhile, offered to teach his soon-to-be girlfriend how to play “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, according to a tweet from Cabello. 

“@ShawnMendes is going to teach me how to play fast car by Tracy chapman- until then im playing a team like a good student,” she wrote. 

The couple’s first track together debuts not in the summer, but in the fall, along with a fiery music video. Cabello shared that the song was about a crush gone wrong in an interview with Rolling Stone. 

“At the time, I was talking to a guy that I liked, and a friend called me two days before we wrote the song and told me he had been hitting her up and trying to flirt with her as well,” Cabello revealed. 

It’s short, but it’s cute!

Nearly two years after he posted the short black-and-white video of him and Cabello, Mendes shared the entire thing, which turns out to be a cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Kiss Me.” 

“This feels like falling in love / Falling in love / We're falling in love,” the now-couple sings in the video. 

“Goosebumps all over,” Mendes tweeted, speaking of Cabello’s song “Crying In the Club.” 

“I don’t think you’ll ever meet somebody who can feel emotion like her, in all aspects,” Mendes told Beats1 of Cabello. “She can feel hurt like no other, but she can feel love like no other.” 

On Twitter, Cabello wrote in response to the sweet interview, “i shouldn’t be crying at this time in the morning but I AM. i love you SO much @ShawnMendes.” 

After many supportive tweets and gushing interviews, Cabello and Mendes finally drop another song. “Senorita” is as steamy as they come, and features the pair getting hot and heavy in a motel room. 

“You say we’re just friends / But friends don’t know the way you taste,” croons Cabello in the song. 

Just days after the song is released, Cabello and her boyfriend, Matthew Hussey, whom she went public with in February 2019, announce they have called it quits. 

The two are spotted hanging out all over. They kiss in Miami. They hold hands in West Hollywood. Basically? It’s on, people. 

"Happy birthday to this magic human," Cabello wrote on Instagram in honor of Mendes’ big day. "I love you!!!!"

A friendly message, or something more? It’s definitely something more. 

That same month, Mendes dedicated his song “Mami” to Cabello at his Brooklyn concert.

Even Taylor Swift is riveted by Cabello and Mendes’ “Señorita” performance, but sorry folks — this one doesn’t end with a kiss.  

Cabello doesn’t know how to not talk about Mendes, even when she’s trying not to talk about Mendes. 

“[Fans] can speculate, but at the same time, we are going to live our own lives, enjoy it, and fall for each other like nobody is watching,” the singer told Elle of her new relationship. “That is how I want to live. I never want to open the door for people to feel like they are involved.”

After fan backlash, the couple decided to show fans how they “really kiss” on Instagram. It is truly horrible. 

“If I told you the whole story of Camila, it would take a long time. I would say that you have to fight for someone you really love. And if you really, truly love them, then you’ll get them. It just takes time,” Mendes told a fan during a live chat on September 27. 

The singer posted a Cosmopolitan headline on Instagram that claimed she and her boyfriend broke up. 

“Well when THE FUCK were you gonna tell me?” Cabello joked, tagging her beau. 

After taking home the award for Collaboration of the Year, Cabello posted a sweet message to Mendes and their fans. 

“i love u @shawnmendes thank u for being so there for me yesterday and every other day, u have the most caring and beautiful heart in the world ! thanks to all our fans for voting, we love and appreciate you guys so much and are so thankful for you.”

Cabello is asked if this relationship is “true love,” in an interview with Entertainment Tonight about her new album, Romance.  

"I've said that a lot,” she replied. “I mean, because I do, obviously, like, I love him in the 'He's my boyfriend' way. But I've always loved him. I just love him, you know?"

We know!