It's no surprise that Shawn Mendes: In Wonder, the new Netflix documentary about his life, would cover Mendes's relationship with Camila Cabello. While the film follows the Grammy nominee's 2019 world
tour and work on his upcoming album, Wonder, it also reveals details about the couple's ultra-public romance.
In recent months, Mendes has spoken about the ways in which Cabello inspired his new music. "I don't know if she's credited all over the album, but she should be because there was nobody during the time that was giving me more advice and encouragement to just stick to the way I felt about the music that I wanted to make, you know?" he told SiriusXM’s Jim Ryan about the couple's quarantine. But In Wonder offers fans an even more intimate look at Mendes and Cabello's relationship of more than a year.
Ahead, everything Mendes and Cabello say about one another, from connecting at a Taylor Swift concert to performing "Señorita" at the 2019 VMAs.
Shawn and Camila recall the moment they met.
During the documentary, both Mendes and Cabello reflect on meeting in 2014 during Austin Mahone's tour. "Camila, she was in Fifth Harmony and we were both opening my very first tour ever," Mendes recalls. " She was the act after me. I was the first in the lineup, with the shortest set, and then they went on. Five years ago, man."
Cabello remembers Mendes, then 16 at the time, as "super hyper-focused." She adds, "I never saw him that whole tour. He was constantly going in and out of his bus, playing guitar, writing songs with (frequent songwriting collaborator) Geoff (Warburton)."
But it was a Taylor Swift show that ultimately brought the pair together musically, Cabello revealed. "You know, I thought he was cute but I was like, 'He's doing other stuff, so whatever,'" she remembers. "And then, I guess it must have been about four or five years ago, we were backstage at this Taylor Swift show. I went to his dressing room to say hi. And we, like, started writing this song. Then after that, we like, spent a lot of time with each other because we had the song together and we did a whole Jingle Ball tour together. And that's really when the fucking saga started. I really liked him. I guess he liked me, but I don't really know. "
The song Cabello refers to is 2015's “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” which the couple performed on both The Tonight Show and at KISS FM’s Jingle Ball. Their romance wouldn't become official, however, until the summer of 2019.
Mendes talks about his longtime friendship with Cabello.
While it may have taken several years for Cabello and Mendes to become romantic, he says their friendship provided a foundation for the relationship. “For the past, like, four years, just being friends and not being able to see each other very often to finally being able to be together, she was always there to look out for me as a human being,” he explains in the documentary. “She’s got my back, and I think that’s what your partner is for.”
Every song Mendes has written is about Cabello.
If you've ever wondered who inspired one of Mendes's love songs, look no further than Cabello, he reveals in the film. “We were in New York and my song comes on the radio or something, and the fact comes up that it’s about her, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s about you.’ And I’m like, ‘Everything is about you. They’ve always been about you,’” he admits during In Wonder. “She goes, ‘What do you mean?’ I’m like, ‘They’re all about you. Like, every song I’ve ever wrote.’ And I’m, like, rhyming off the songs. I’m like, ‘Treat You Better,’ like, all these songs. And she’s like, ‘Oh, my God.’ She literally had no idea. This whole time I thought she, like, knew.”
However, Mendes says no song will do their relationship "justice."
When you have a love like Mendes and Cabello share, apparently no music will ever sum it up perfectly. That's what he says in the documentary, comparing their love to the moon and stars in the process. "I don't think I'll be able to write songs that really do it justice, that can really capture the things and the feelings with her," Mendes explains. "I think it's like when you see a moon or stars and you try to take a photo of it with your iPhone, and then you just can't, it just doesn't look good. And you're like, 'It's not supposed to be captured.' You know? It's just supposed to be for us."
The couple shares intimate moments while preparing for the VMAs.
Mendes and Cabello may not have shared a kiss during their steamy performance of "Señorita" at the VMAs, but their PDA is on full-display for In Wonder. Footage shows the couple kissing during rehearsal for the awards show, Cabello telling Mendes at one point, "I love you. Do you know that?" During another behind-the-scenes moment, the pair prepares for their performance in an empty bathroom, singing John Mayer's "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room."
Mendes also opens up about sharing a West Village apartment with Cabello ahead of the awards show debut. "At this moment in time, during the summer of whatever you want to name this summer, during 'Señorita' and 'If I Can't Have You,' Camila and I are staying in an apartment in New York City for the very first time alone," he says, adding, "And making eggs and trying to figure out how to use a Keurig. Normal things, you know? This is really cool to just be like a 21-year-old guy."
Cabello and Mendes bond over their teenage insecurities.
Both artists became famous while in their adolescence, a fact that Mendes says he and Cabello have connected over. "Yesterday we were watching videos of us when we were, like, 16. We both got so caught up in it," he recalls. "We looked at each other and were like, 'I don't feel good.' Cause we were taken right back to that insecure, unsure 15-year-old. And I just felt like, 'Wow, she really understands that feeling.' We looked at each other and said, 'We feel weird right now, don't we?' And she's like, 'Yeah, we do.' And I'm like, 'I'm so happy you know why, cause I don't know if I could explain this very well to other people.'"