Last night, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello broke the internet when they released their music video for “Señorita”. It’s SEXY AS F-CK. Lyrics like“when your lips undress me/Hooked on your tongue”,combined with steamy scenes like the onethey teased yesterday, leave you just:

I’m writing this right after waking up, and it’s waaaay too early in the morning for me to feel like this. I (we?) need what Shawn Mendes posted on his Insta story last night:an ice bath.

The chemistry between Shawn and Camila is undeniable, and as I said earlier, IT’S SEXY AS F-CK. Watching this video feels like sitting in a sauna in the middle of a Toronto summer: unbearably humid and hot. Naturally, everyone’s next question is: are Shawn and Camila dating? This isn’t a particularly new inquiry. Fans (myself included) have speculated about #Shamilla for a long time, especially after their collaboration in 2015 on “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Ironically, they’re both perpetually 6 feet apart and fully clothed for that entire video, so the exact opposite of “Señorita.”

So, are they dating or not? Shawn and Camila have repeatedly said that they’rejust good friendsand collaborators. (Side note: I’m not saying this means anything, but they literally put,“You say, ‘We're just friends.’/But friends don't know the way you taste”在这首歌。我的意思是,COME ON!) Camila is currently with British dating expert Matthew Hussey and has been since February of last year. She even admitted that she and Shawn were very nervous while filming the video and that she had to drink “a lot of wine” to get through it. I do wonder, what’s it like to go through a shoot like that. When artists film videos, they have to do several takes, block out the scene, and repeat things over and over again. Does that detract from the sexiness of it? Does it get more comfortable each successive time? When they watch the completed video, are they like “oof this is hot” or do they just remember the likely exhausting shoot?

The answer to whether Shamilla is real seems to be a definitive no, and I don’t see the value in speculating beyond that, at least for now. Camila and Shawn are both talented artists who are fully dedicated to their artform, and I have no doubt that they would have put 110% into this video, even if it meant putting on such a convincing performance of intimacy.

I am, however, not one to turn down an opportunity to thirst after Shawn Mendes, and I’m intrigued by the image he’s been pushing recently in his career. I’m still recovering after his recentCalvin Klein campaign, and we’re seeing much of the same in “Señorita”. In a leather jacket or suspenders (I’m big into suspenders for some reason) with a white tank, he’s made himself a sexy, James Dean-like bad boy. And the hair, OH MY GOD THE HAIR, is perfect. It’s kinda messy, casually styled, and just the right amount of sweaty.

In his interactions with fans and just in life, Shawn is an adorable, sweet human being. The epitome of a polite Canadian. He’s also a little awkward in a lovable, endearing way. We’re frequently reminded of this side of Shawn, like when heaccidentally slipped at a show in Winnipegand in literally any of his tweets. He also doesn’t have much game,自我不可否认, which is also why aside from his brief stint with Hailey Baldwin Bieber, he’s been mostly single. We got a blast from the past last Valentine’s Day, showcasing some 14 year old cringeworthy flirting with YouTuber Andrea Russett, when she replied to his tweet SIX YEARS LATER.


On one hand we have Adorable Shawn, and on the other we have Sexy Shawn. As Kathleen pointed outin her article about his album last year, Shawn is using his music to transition from boy to man in the public eye. Nevertheless, he’s still showcasing that adorable side of him frequently, and I’m curious about the strategy here. Is he trying to push Sexy Shawn through videos, music, and campaigns as a way of indicating that he’s now “the hot bad boy you wanna f-ck” but can’t cover up his otherwise dorky personality? Or is he leveraging the “gentleman in the streets, freak in the sheets” vibe that complements both sides of his personality and brand? I think the latter is stronger. We have a lot of f-ckable male celebrites. We don’t have enough dateable ones. We can’t JUST rely on Keanu.