Camila Cabello Sang to a ‘Man She Loves’ at the Grammys & No, It’s Not Shawn Mendes

And we’re crying. Camila Cabello’s Grammys 2020 performance video was a tribute to a “man she loves,” and no, it’s not Shawn Mendes. The “Havana” crooner, 22, took the stage at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, January 26, where she performed an emotional rendition of her song “First Man,” from her 2019 album, Romance.

The ballad, which Cabello dedicated to her dad, made viewers—and Gwen Stefani—cry. Cabello started her performance by singing by herself, as home videos of her and her father played on a screen beside her. As the song went on, Cabello descended down a set of stairs to her father, who sat in the front row and cried as his daughter sang about his love for her. As Cabello explained to StyleCaster in November, “First Man” is about Cabello’s first date with her ex-boyfriend, Matthew Hussey, and how she had to settle her father’s fears before she went on it.

“I think dads see their daughters as their little girls from when they were 3 years old,” Cabello said at the time. “It’s also a Mexican thing. Like a Latin thing. Like when they make jokes like, ‘I’m going to beat him up if he breaks your heart.’”

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Cabello was nominated for one award at the 2020 Grammys: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her and Mendes’ song “Señorita” from the deluxe edition of her boyfriend’s 2018 album, Shawn Mendes. This isn’t the first time the former Fifth Harmony singer has been nominated though. Cabello was also nominated for two categories in 2019: Best Pop Solo Performance for her song “Havana” and Best Pop Vocal Album for her debut LP, Camila. (Fun fact: Cabello and Mendes were up against each other for Best Pop Vocal Album, but both lost to Ariana Grande’s Sweetener.)

The X-Factor alum joked to Radio.com in January that she and Mendes would walk on stage in their underwear if they won their first-ever Grammys for “Señorita” in the same vein as Twenty One Pilots in 2017. “If Shawn and I win the Grammy, we will walk on stage in our underwear like Twenty One Pilots did. That’s a promise,” she said at the time. “Just kidding. It’s not. I gotta work out before I do that.”

Image: Rob Latour/Shutterstock.

The track Cabello performed at the 2020 Grammys was from her 2019 album, Romance, which she told fans in December was mostly about her relationship with Mendes. The two met in 2014 and released a song together a year later, but they didn’t start dating until years after their friendship started.

“I was denying feelings for someone because it was scary, and that’s the tea,” she said of Mendes at the time before describing how her feelings inspired her song “Shameless.” “I get scared of falling in love. I’m not this hopeless romantic who’s like. ‘Everything is fun and awesome.’ That shit is scary. ‘Shameless’ is such a good moment for me because, right now, I’m not afraid. I’m done being afraid. Let’s just go for it. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Killed it, Camila. Killed it.