Camila Cabello Seemingly Just Alluded To Sabrina Carpenter’s Song “Taste” Being About Their Messy Shawn Mendes Love Triangle

It comes after Sabrina went viral for performing “Taste” right in front of Shawn and Camila at the VMAs.

By
Stephanie Soteriou
by Stephanie Soteriou

BuzzFeed Staff

Last month, Sabrina Carpenter released her highly-anticipated new album, Short n’ Sweet, which appears to include multiple songs referencing her short-lived romance with Shawn Mendes — namely how he reportedly left her to rekindle his relationship with Camila Cabello.

Sabrina Carpenter poses on the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet in an elegant strapless gown with detailed embellishments
Jamie Mccarthy / WireImage

For context, Shawn and Camila first started dating in 2019 but broke up in November 2021. It is thought that he and Sabrina started dating in February 2023, and they were repeatedly spotted together during this time.


In March of that year, sources confirmed to ET that Shawn and Sabrina were indeed “seeing each other,” but just one month later, Shawn was spotted kissing Camila at Coachella. 


He remained with Camila until June 2023, when a source told ET they’d called it quits again. 


Sabrina did not publicly comment on the messy situation at the time, however, she seemingly did not hold back when it came to her new album.

After its release, fans immediately speculated that “Coincidence,” “Sharpest Tool,” “Dumb & Poetic,” and “Taste” were all inspired by this specific love triangle.

Shawn Mendes at an event, smiling and wearing a tailored suit
Mike Coppola / Getty Images for MTV

“Coincidence” has a pretty obvious connection to the Coachella of it all with the lyric: "Your car drove itself from L.A. to her thighs / Palm Springs looks nice, but who's playing sides?"


However, “Taste” is arguably the least subtle, with the chorus literally repeating: “I heard you're back together and if that's true / You'll just have to taste me when he's kissing you / If you want forever, I bet you do / Just know you'll taste me too."

And earlier this month, fans were left gagged when Sabrina performed “Taste” in front of both Shawn and Camila at the MTV VMAs.

Sabrina Carpenter sings on stage in a sparkly outfit, surrounded by dancers dressed as astronauts
Mike Coppola / Getty Images for MTV

The star did a medley of her recent hits, which also included “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” which was later awarded song of the year. 


Unfortunately for us, the MTV cameras did not show Shawn or Camila during any part of Sabrina’s performance, and neither star has publicly acknowledged the social media storm surrounding them off the back of Sabrina’s album.

However, Camila did appear to allude to the drama during her performance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival on Friday.

Camila Cabello poses in a sheer, short-sleeved dress at an iHeartRadio event with Capital One logos in the background
David Becker / Getty Images for iHeartRadio

When singing her popular collaboration with Shawn, “Señorita,” Camila chose to omit a telltale word from the lyrics. 

“You say we’re just friends, but friends don’t know the way you…” Camila sings in a video from the performance, with the star pointedly putting a finger over her lips instead of singing the final word in the line, which is "taste."

Camila Cabello performs on stage, wearing a black leather jacket and lace-up pants, holding a microphone and playfully gesturing with her finger to her lips
Kevin Winter / Getty Images for iHeartRadio

Needless to say, people in the crowd can be heard cheering as they picked up on the not-so-subtle Sabrina reference. 


Reacting to the clip on X, one person wrote: “oh she's so messy and i love her for that.”


“She knew damn well what she was doing😭,” one more tweeted, while somebody else joked: “I need the girls to link up and release a Shawn diss and make it bop.”

You can watch the moment here!

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