The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards felt like a “funeral” for Shawn Mendes — and for his ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello.
“I’m in my ‘Godspeed’ era, and that song is very much about letting go of everything that does not serve you,” Cabello, 27, told Billboard on the VMAs red carpet on Wednesday, September 11. “So, I kind of am having a funeral today for just everything that is negative, everything that doesn’t serve me. So, I’m kind of attending my own funeral today at the VMAs.”
Cabello expressed her message through her “curated” red carpet outfit. “Everything that I’m wearing is black. I’ve got these, kind of, crosses to kind of represent ‘Godspeed,’ and it’s kind of this whole energy of just, like, ‘Bye-bye. Death to the things that are negative. Death to the people and the situations that try to bring you down.’ And that’s what the song is about and that’s what tonight is about,” she said of her lacy Tony Ward gown, which she paired with a cross choker necklace and black veil.
She continued: “It’s kind of giving, like, the VMAs, which is something that usually — I don’t know — awards shows can be very stressful. It’s like, ‘Well now, it’s kind of a funeral party.’”
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Cabello’s comments were noticeably similar to what Mendes, 26, captioned Instagram pics of his own VMAS outfit before the show. “Pulling up to my own funeral,” he wrote on Wednesday.
Fans were quick to interpret Mendes’ caption as a reference to him, Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter all attending the awards ceremony. Mendes and Carpenter, 25, were romantically linked in early 2023, nearly two years after he and Cabello initially ended their relationship. At the time, however, Mendes denied that he and Carpenter were anything more than friends.
The trio have each seemingly referred to the rumored love triangle in their music. Carpenter’s song “Taste” from her new album, Short n’ Sweet, is heavily rumored to be about Mendes and Cabello rekindling their romance. (The exes called it quits for a second time in June 2023.)
“I heard you’re back together, and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you,” Carpenter sings. “If you want forever, I bet you do / Just know you’ll taste me too.”
Carpenter — who has since moved on with actor Barry Keoghan — performed the track in a medley with her other hits “Please Please Please” and “Espresso” during the VMAs. Cabello also took to the stage to sing “Godspeed,” which is rumored to be about her relationship with Mendes.
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Mendes appeared to have left the VMAs early after performing his new song “Nobody Knows,” the lyrics of which seemed to hint at his past with Cabello. “You’re an amateur drunk and everyone knows it / But f–k, you’re the one and I live for those moments,” he sang. “When the bottle is open, anything can happen / Flying too close to the sun.”
Carpenter scored a Song of the Year win for “Espresso” on Wednesday, while Cabello walked away empty-handed. Mendes, for his part, was not up for any of this year’s awards.
