Sabrina Carpenter released her highly anticipated album, Short n’ Sweet, on Aug. 23. Fans were excited about the album after Carpenter’s singles “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” were released. Of course, now that the album has dropped, it’s time for fans to analyze the album’s lyrics. The fifth track of the album, “Coincidence” is no exception, as it’s speculated by fans to be about Shawn Mendes.
There’s a good chance “Coincidence” could be about Carpenter’s rumored relationship with Mendes, which reportedly sparked in February 2023 when a tipster wrote in to DeuxMoi, “Spotted Shawn Mendes and Sabrina Carpenter on clearly a date at Horses anon pls. Thursday night,” the message read, adding, “Sabrina was in a little brown miniskirt and clearly was Shawn newly shaved head wearing white sweater. They were verrrry comfortable.”
After that, the two were spotted out together on several occasions around Los Angeles. Then on Mar. 13 2023, Entertainment Tonight reported that Carpenter and Mendes were “seeing each other,” and had “been hanging out a lot.”
However, on Mar. 17, 2023, Mendes denied these rumors, telling RTL Boulevard, “We are not dating.” Shortly after, in April 2023, Mendes and his longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend, Camilla Cabello, were spotted together at Coachella.
Now, more than a year later, it seems to fans that Carpenter’s referring to Mendes in “Coincidence.”
The song hints at a love triangle between Carpenter, Mendes, and his former girlfriend, Camila Cabello. In the first verse, Carpenter sings about how when she’s with her partner, his former girlfriend begins to become a part of his life again.“The second I put my head on your chest / She knew, she’s got a real sixth sense / Now her name comes up once, then it comes up twice / And without her even bein’ here, she’s back in your life / Now she’s in the same damn city on the same damn night.”
The appearance of his former girlfriend has led to her partner acting differently. This leads Carpenter to sing in the chorus, “And you’ve lost all your common sense / What a coincidence.”
In the second verse, Carpenter opens up about how her partner has changed now that his former girlfriend is back in his life. “Last week, you didn’t have any doubts / This week, you’re holding space for her tongue in your mouth.”
The bridge goes on to hint that her partner had cheated on her. “You drove yourself from L.A. to her thighs / Palm Springs looks nice, but who’s by your side? / Damn it, she looks kinda like the girl you outgrew / Least that’s what you said,” she sings.
Carpenter ends the song by slightly changing up the chorus. “What a coincidence / Oh, wow, you just broke up again/ What a coincidence.”
On X (formerly Twitter), fans shared how they thought the song was about Carpenter and Mendes.
Coincidence by Sabrina carpenter is about Shawn and Camila :$:&@::??? pic.twitter.com/PrUSSpSVZH
— dayra (@vixennreads) August 22, 2024
I was today years old when I learned that Sabrina Carpenter and Shawn Mendes dated. Sabrina ate him up in Coincidence tho #ShortNSweet pic.twitter.com/jKJmZGHCtV
— c ♡ (@cinnabunxoco) August 23, 2024
me finding out about the shawn x sabrina x camila love triangle pic.twitter.com/tfmI86nvDw
— ℜ𝔢𝔫𐚁 #ShortNSweetTour 10/27 (@haloheaux) August 22, 2024
allegedly sabrina’s song ‘coincidence’ is calling out camila for “seducing” shawn while they were in a relationship and ‘dumb and poetic’ is allegedly about shawn being a douche
— kunt vonnegut (@fkullsuck) August 22, 2024
So far, It’s unclear whether or not this song is actually about Mendes. But regardless, it’s clear Carpenter has given us another hit!
More to come…