Camila Cabello Reacts To 'The Voice' Contestant Singing A Shawn Mendes Song
By Rebekah Gonzalez
September 29, 2022
During this week's blind auditions on The Voice, the show's newest coach Camila Cabello was caught off guard when contestant Tanner Howe belted out her ex-boyfriend Shawn Mendes' song "Mercy." Howe sounded so good that Camila almost thought Shawn was on the stage behind her.
"Is that my… Is that Shawn up there?" she said when once the performance had come to an end. "I thought that was Shawn." While Camila kept her back turned, fellow coaches Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, and John Legend all turned their chairs around for the singer.
"Tanner, congratulations. You're on The Voice!" she told him. "I was like, 'Is Shawn onstage right now?'" Howe then responded, "Well, you know him best, so that's awesome."
"I know him better than everybody in this room," Camila responded as she dated Mendes for over two years before they announced their breakup via a joint statement in November 2021.
While the judges praised Howe for sounding like Mendes, that's what worked against him when it came to Team Camila. "But the reason I didn't turn around was, I felt like you sounded a little bit too much like him," she explained. "Obviously, he has an amazing voice. I love this song, but I would be curious, when you pick your coach, for you to kind of distinguish yourself."
Howe responded, "I really respect Shawn as an artist, and I see myself in that lane, but I totally love what you're saying. Thank you so much. I'll try and be more unique." Camila then joked, "I was in his lane — deeply," earning laughs from the coaches and the audience.