I wanna thank Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Sabrina Carpenter, and the producers for giving the people what we want: chaos, romance, and memorable performances. It’s not everyday we get to see pop stars who were recently in a love triangle all attend the VMAs and sing songs inspired by each other. As you probably already know, Sabrina released her highly anticipated sixth album, Short n’ Sweet, in August, and several of the tracks seem to reference her brief relationship with Shawn and how he got back together with Camila afterward. This particular award show is notorious for drama, and this year appears to be no different, thank goodness… Here’s a breakdown of Shawn, Camila, and Sabrina’s VMAs performances and reactions to each other.

Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, And Sabrina Carpenter At The VMAs

Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, And Sabrina Carpenter Songs About Each Other At The VMAs

Shawn Mendes channeled John Mayer and belted his little heart out tonight, singing a new song called “Nobody Knows” from his (second) self-titled album. In the chorus, our Canadian king soulfully croons, “When you’re so in love / And your souls touch / But it’s still not enough / Where does it go?” Considering he’s previously admitted that all of his songs are about Camila, I have to assume this one was also inspired by her and their failed rekindled romance. Devastatingly, we did not get to see Camila’s reaction to his passionate performance.

His muse and one of my personal favorite pop girlies, Camila, treated us to a performance of “Godspeed” from the new deluxe version of her album, C, XOXO. But! She tricked us for a sec at the beginning, showing a clip of herself singing “June Gloom,” a song rumored to be about her Coachella reunion with Shawn. She symbolically transitioned into “Godspeed,” showing us (I think) that she’s moved on from that romantic era. “We’re livin’ in a ghost world / We’re livin’ in a past life,” she sings in the beautiful ballad, which is presumably about breaking up with Shawn a second time. At the end, she’s brutally honest with her ex: “I wish you well, but far away from me.”

Sabrina went Ariana Grande-level pop supernova, as she tends to do these days, and gifted us a masterfully choreographed mashup of “Please Please Please,” “Espresso,” and “Taste,” (which is perhaps her most obvious Shawn and Camila-inspired track). During the “Taste” section, an astronaut guy and a light blue alien were there to represent the ex and his new GF Sabrina addresses in the lyrics. Naturally, Sabrina made out with the alien on stage; it was a delightfully unserious performance. Yet again, MTV failed us and did not show Shawn or Camila’s reactions.

Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, And Sabrina Carpenter’s Reactions To Each Other At The VMAs

MTV, I’m gonna need a word with you. Bring back celeb reactions! That’s the whole point of the show!! We did not get to see any Shawn, Camila, and Sabrina interactions or reactions, unfortunately.

However, there is a weird funeral theme connection going on with these people. In an Insta post ahead of the show, Shawn wrote, “Pulling up to my own funeral.” Mind you, in Sabrina’s “Taste” music video, she attends her ex-BF’s funeral with his other GF… and that’s not all. While chatting with Billboard about her VMAs look, Camila shared, “I kind of am having a funeral today for just everything that is negative, everything that doesn’t serve me, death to the things that are negative, death to the people and the situations that try to bring you down.” Surely, this connection can’t be a random coincidence?