For Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, the timing—and music—were right.
As fans well know of the Hollywood pair adoringly known as Shawmila nowadays, the stars haven't always been a romantic pair, but they have always been a musical one. In November 2015, the two first took the airwaves together on "I Know What You Did Last Summer," where feelings first began.
"During 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' I really bonded with him as more than a friend. I think he did, too, but we were both really young, and he was experiencing the pressures of his career. I don't think we knew what to do with those feelings," she recently recalled to Rolling Stone. "It was this awkward thing where we both liked each other, but we weren't together. It was just weird. An energy was there from the beginning, but after that song, we didn't spend as much time together. Our paths just didn't cross in that way romantically until we started hanging out again and writing. For me, it just brought it back."
Four years later, they finally reunited musically on the 2019 track, "Señorita." "It took me 10 months to convince Camila to sing this with me," Mendes revealed to V magazine. "This is true. My fans are just absolutely gonna hate me now," Cabello confirmed. "They're like, 'She's so stupid.' Honestly, it just takes the right time for things to happen, I feel. You know?"
The same could be said of the romance that was brewing behind the scenes.
"The timing wasn't right before but it is right right now," a source told E! News in July. "They are going for it without holding back. This step in their relationship is exciting for them both. They haven't wanted to be apart at all. It's 24/7 and all out at this point."
And, as she shared with E! News, "Señorita" played a part in bringing them back together.
"I love him with all my heart and always have. We've known each other for a really long time," she told E! News at Elle's Women in Music event. "We've always been there for each other. I think we drifted just because we weren't hanging out as as much and so, it was just fun to be able to reconnect and hang out again."
Now, following the newly announced 2020 Grammy nominations, the pair have even more to be happy about together thanks to their nod for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. While we wait and see if a joint Grammy win—and a first for both!—becomes part of their love story, revisit their romance in E!'s gallery below!
Back in 2015, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello first made headlines together not as a couple, but as a musical duet on their joint hit single, "I Know What You Did Last Summer."
Four years later, the performers' new steamy music video for their "Señorita" duet, released in June, raised eyebrows over whether there was a romance brewing behind the scenes.
The following month, the two were spotted holding hands while out together in West Hollywood. "They were telling people they were a couple," a source told E! News at the time. Soon after, the stars were seen getting close in San Francisco.
While the two had not publicly confirmed their relationship status, this steamy makeout in the Miami water did all the talking.
The rumored pair rang in Mendes' 21st birthday together in August 2019, including a big kiss for the birthday boy. Cabello also declared her love for her musical beau over on Instagram.
At the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, Camila and Shawn stole the show with a sexy live performance of "Señorita" as viewers waited to see if they would kiss.
After laughing off breakup rumors in October 2019, their romance was on full display as they made out courtside throughout a basketball game.
Shawn revealed that during the pandemic, he went to Miami to live with Camila. "Something really beautiful for me came out of it, which was you're not allowed to leave," he told Zane Lowe in 2020. "I went to Miami and I was living with Camila [Cabello] and her parents and her sister."
Relationship milestone alert: They welcomed a new member of their family after picking up a puppy named Tarzan in November 2020.
Shawn revealed he and Camila get into fights from time to time. "We definitely fight, and we get in like the worst little arguments," he said on SiriusXM's The Morning Mash Up in August. "But, like, I think that we definitely are pretty good at picking up on when it's just ego talking. And we like, usually like call each other out. We have a really honest and open relationship—but, yeah, no, we definitely fight."
Shawn was by Camila's side while she walked the red carpet for the premiere of Cinderella in September.
Shawnmila attended their first Met Gala together in 2021, wearing Michael Kors Collection looks.
The pair celebrated Halloween together in 2021, writing on social media, "Feliz día de los muertos."
The couple announced their split on Nov. 17, 2021. As they wrote, "we've decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for on another as humans is stronger than ever." The pair added, "we started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends."
The pair reunited at Coachella in April 2023 and were seen kissing during the festival.
Rekindling the Flame
After their Coachella moment, Shawn and Camila were spotted hanging out a few times during early summer 2023—including at a Taylor Swift concert—but ultimately called it quits once more in June.