3 Ex-Couples Who Have Duets Together

When creative people get together romantically, it’s no surprise that these couples become inspired to team up professionally and record duets. While it’s certainly romantic in the moment to write and sing duets with the person that you love, it can make for an awkward memento if the relationship comes to an end.

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Such is the case with these three former couples, all of whom wrote and recorded a track together before calling it quits.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert: “Bare Skin Rug”

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert were a country music power couple. The pair began dating in 2006, and then got engaged four years later. They tied the knot in 2011 before calling it quits in 2015.

Amid all that time, Shelton and Lambert teamed up more than once. They co-wrote several songs together, sang background on each other’s tracks, and even dueted more than once.

Their first duet was “Bare Skin Rug”, which appeared on Shelton’s 2008 LP, Startin’ Fires. Not only did Lambert have a feature on the track, but she also co-wrote it with her then-beau.

Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes: “Señorita”

Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello first teamed up on “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” but that duet predated their romance.

When “Señorita” came around in 2019, the pair released a steamy music video that got people talking and exhibited some PDA out in the real world as well.

They officially confirmed they were dating later that year. The couple called it quits in 2021. Though Mendes and Cabello briefly reconnected two years later, the relationship didn’t last.

While their relationship didn’t have staying power, “Señorita” did. The track, which they co-wrote alongside six others, topped the Billboard Hot 100, won an AMA, nabbed two VMAs, and was even nominated for a Grammy.

John Mayer and Katy Perry: “Who You Love”

John Mayer had an on-and-off relationship with Katy Perry between 2012 and 2015.

The two superstars decided to make their personal relationship a professional one in 2013 when they teamed up for “Who You Love.” The track, which the then-couple also co-wrote, was accompanied by a romantic music video. However, the choice to pair up was “a completely artistic transaction,” not a romantic one, Mayer noted during a talk at Oxford University.

“When you first read the reports about [the duet], you’ll think that it’s a gimmick… I love a good challenge and that’s certainly one,” Mayer told Billboard. “But the hope is you hear it once because of the curiosity, and then you go, ‘Wow, I really like that. I could find a place for hearing that a lot more.’”

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