Camila Cabello 'Familia' Album: Song Lyrics About Shawn Mendes

Letting her feelings out. Camila Cabello sings about her and ‘ relationship and subsequent split on the album Familia, released on Friday, April 8.

“At the beginning, it was really hard because I was just going through a bad mental health time, so being in the studio, every part of life was like anxiety-inducing for me,” the songstress, 25, shared during an interview with Extra ahead of the record’s release. She went on to explain that some of her studio sessions were “very painful,” citing “Psychofreak” as one of the hardest tracks to write.

“At the end of that studio day, I was like, ‘Ugh, that was so hard to write,’” Camila shared. “I remember it was just kind of like this stream-of-consciousness word vomit thing while I was in the booth.”

Ahead of releasing the full album, the “Havana” songstress released a song titled “Bam Bam,” which fans were convinced was about her and Shawn’s breakup. She’s since spoken about the song at length.

“I f—ing love Shawn. And I feel like there is literally nothing but love for him,” she told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1’s New Music Daily early last month. “And this song is mostly just about like, ‘OK, how do I make a song that shows the cycles of love, and life, and gives people … ’ Whatever it is that’s going on in your life … hopefully, this can make you be like, ‘It is that way now, but things are always taking crazy turns.’”

The musicians were together publicly from July 2019 to November 2021. They announced their split with a joint statement shared via their respective Instagram Stories.

“Hey guys, we’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for one another as humans is stronger than ever,” they wrote at the time. “We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”

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As for the reason behind their breakup, Camila explained during the same Apple Music interview that her “priorities have fluctuated and my focus has changed throughout my life.”

“Those years that we were dating, I don’t even feel like — even while I was writing this album, and even still now — I guess, my focus is really on, how can I be a well-rounded person? And apart from my career, my focus wasn’t even on my career,” she shared candidly. “This album literally was a tool of me becoming a more well-rounded person and acquiring intimacy with my collaborators.”

Scroll through the gallery for a breakdown of which of Camila’s songs appear to be about Shawn.

‘Psychofreak’ Featuring WILLOW

Although she doesn’t appear to explicitly discuss their past romance in the song, Camila told Extra this track was about “anxiety and all these obsessive thoughts that I was having.” She seems to reference how much she’s changed over the years throughout the lyrics, which was one of the reasons for her and Shawn’s split.

“Blink and the fairytale falls apart,” Camila sings. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so dark.”

‘Bam Bam’ Featuring Ed Sheeran

Camila has since confirmed that this song was about her and Shawn’s split. The song opens with, “You said you hated the ocean, but you’re surfin’ now / I said I’d love you for life, but I just sold our house / We were kids at the start, I guess we’re grown-ups now,” appearing to directly refer to Shawn.

“I think what we were trying to get across in the verse is just that things change and things take really unexpected terms,” she shared during her Apple Music interview. “And just showing that through the actual details of it.”

‘La Buena Vida’

Camila has not spoken about this track, but it appeared to also be about her and Shawn’s romance.

“I woke up happy by accident / I forgot you were gone again,” the song starts. Elsewhere in the lyrics, she references someone who is “working all the time.” Camila sings, “And I thought we’d be traveling the world together / Making love in the afternoon / But I’m forgetting what it’s like to wake up next to you.”

‘Boys Don’t Cry’

Shawn has spoken publicly about his feelings on toxic masculinity and how that affected his relationship with Camila in the past. “And I was like, ‘Oh god, this is the worst.’ I’m so terrified of being evil. I’m so scared to be bad,” he said on the “Man Enough” podcast in June 2021 of a fight they had.

Camila, for her part, appears to directly reference this by singing, “Give me your pain, I’ll take the weight off your shoulders / Don’t be afraid, fall into for me, let me hold ya.”

‘Everyone at This Party’

Camila appears to make a few direct references to Shawn on this song. Not only does she mention “Scotty” — Scott Harris collaborates with both Shawn and Camila on music — but she seems to sing about being nervous to see someone after a while apart.

“Didn’t wanna ask our friend if you were gonna be here / And make the whole thing weird / But I was nervous in the car just in case you are,” the track opens.