On November 17, pop super-couple Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello went public with their split. Last night—exactly two weeks on from the announcement—Mendes released “It’ll Be Okay,” a new song that’s seemingly a response to the breakup. “It feels like I havnt truly connected with you guys in a while,” Mendes wrote to fans on Instagram. “I miss you🤍 I hope you love this song.”
Mendes wrote “It’ll Be Okay” with Eddie Benjamin, Mike Sabath, and Scott Harris. While the lyrics are short on specifics, the song is sung from the POV of a guy resigning himself to the dissolution of a relationship.
Are we gonna make it?
Is this gonna hurt?
Oh, we can try to sedate it
But that never works
In the chorus, Mendes suggests that he’s not the one pulling the plug on the romance. But he recognizes that it’s the right thing to do—and he’s not going to stand in his partner’s way.
If you tell me you’re leaving, I’ll make it easy
It’ll be okay
If we can’t stop the bleeding
We don’t have to fix it, we don’t have to stay
The hurt is so intense that by the second verse, Mendes can’t even manage a rhyme.
Oh, the future we dreamed of is fading to black
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh
Oh, there’s nothing more painful
Nothing more painful, oh-woah (Oh-woah)
And yet despite it all, Mendes doesn’t feel animosity toward his ex. In the bridge, he vows to continue caring for the person who’s upended his world.
I will love you either way
It might be so sweet
It might be so bitter
I will love you either way
Those lines are in keeping with the joint statement that Mendes and Cabello released at the time of their breakup: “Hey guys, we’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for another as humans is stronger than ever.”
You can check out all the lyrics to “It’ll Be Okay” on Genius now.
RIP Shamila.