Shawn Mendes Ignites Controversy After Using NYC ‘Air Pollution’ To Promote New Song About Camila Cabello

Shawn Mendes finally dropped some new music… and fans can’t help but feel bamboozled.

If you follow the 24-year-old singer on Instagram, you may have seen his Thursday post teasing his new track, What The Hell Are We Dying For? The cover art featured a photo of the hazy, orange New York City skyline that’s a result of smoke being blown in from the Canadian wildfires, so many fans thought it was a no brainer the song would offer some sort of environmentalist message — especially given the fact that the Stitches singer is a Canadian native himself. But boy, were they wrong.

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A post shared by Shawn Mendes (@shawnmendes)

As the song opens, the lyrics do seem to address the devastating fires:

“Smoke is in the air, the city’s burnin’ down / I wanna speak, but I don’t make a sound”

However, they quickly transitioned into what fans are labeling as a “breakup” song:

“Locked in my mind, you’re all I think about / I wanna save us, but I don’t know how”

We reported Thursday, the same day Shawn announced this track, that he and Camila Cabello, who he’d seemingly reconciled with in April, had apparently called it quits on love once again. An insider told The US Sun Wednesday:

“They realised it was probably a mistake to give things another shot. Things ended between them the first time for a reason, after all. In reality, both of them know they aren’t right for each other romantically and now they just want to move on.”

Yikes, those lyrics are making even more sense now, huh?

He continued in the song:

“If we don’t love like we used to / If we don’t care like we used to / What the hell are we dying for? / If It doesn’t cut like it used to / If you’re not mine and I’m not yours / What the hell are we dying for?”

That sounds right on par with the report that they just realized they’re not meant for one another. Shawn shared on IG early Friday morning that he wrote and recorded the track in less than 24 hours, noting that it “felt important” to share, however, fans who were expecting a climate crisis song from his cover art weren’t exactly sold. On Twitter, one user wrote:

“he’s so unserious for framing this like a climate change call to action song and it’s literally just about Camila Cabello”

Another added:

“so you’re gonna use a climate crisis to release a breakup song about camila cabello… ikyfl”

See more reactions (below):

Shawn Mendes pressing record after looking out of the windows of his Brooklyn pied a terre yesterday pic.twitter.com/Bfwl2ISchV

— oomf magazine (@oomfmagazine) June 9, 2023

and what the hell is Shawn Mendes music supposed to do… pic.twitter.com/IQ86jxjfWq https://t.co/3AjDKY8OcA

— ri: oscar + pedro film soon? ???? (@rielfication) June 9, 2023

so let’s get this (not) straight… shawn mendes fake dated his beard ex gf for a week for promo for some new song titled “what the hell are we dying for” with a pic of the heavy air pollution caused by canadian wildfires that are killing so much

the fuck is wrong with this man pic.twitter.com/K4FFmhUyZU

— JamboExplained (@JamboExplained) June 9, 2023

We can’t say we disagree with fans! He could have chosen ANY other cover art… However, he did share that a portion of the song’s proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, which has been the main organization working to tame the wildfires. And the spooky sky was literally happening as he completed the song, so… it’s not like it wasn’t part of his experience, too.