Shawn Mendes, a Grammy-nominated pop singer and songwriter, invites listeners into a glimpse of his life with a stripped down, raw and acoustic 30 minute album self-titled “Shawn.”
Released on this past New Music Friday, Mendes surprised fans with an entirely new sound compared to his previous records.
Mendes has been in the music business since 2014, gaining traction with hit songs that racked up billions of streams on Spotify, while capturing the hearts and minds of teenage girls all over the world.
When Mendes released “Illuminate,” I was a 13-year-old girl in 2017 captivated by his charming face and adored his tracks like “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” and “Treat You Better.”
In the era of cover songs, I grabbed my guitar and I uploaded my renditions of his hit songs onto Instagram because I was fascinated by his songwriting.
I eventually tapered down over the years. I didn’t enjoy his last album “Wonder” in 2020 because I found it to be fairly bland compared to his previous records.
“Shawn,” however, blew me away with a breath of fresh air for the first time in the last few years.
Folk music has been the genre that I could never get tired of with artists like Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes and Noah Kahan always topping my Spotify Wrapped list.
Mendes blends the sound of folk seamlessly with lyrics that reflect his past and present life, with familiar themes that his listeners can relate to, growing up with his music.
The first track on the album, “Who I Am,” finds Mendes questioning his existence and fighting the pressure to label himself with whatever society expects him to be.
In the second verse, he sings, “I feel pressure from the people that I love, and it hurts / But I know I gotta do it, gotta put me first / Losin' myself tryna make you proud / Sorry, gotta do it, gotta let you down.”
Mendes also alludes to the cancellation of his world tour of “Wonder” in 2022.
He recently shared battles with his mental health and the pressure to come out as queer from the media and pop culture.
Mendes said in his Denver concert last month that he is “figuring out” his sexuality, according to an Oct. 29 article from NBC News.
The second song on the album, “Why Why Why” shares a more vulnerable side of Mendes nodding to his breakup with Camila Cabello in Nov. 2021.
“Sweating through the sheets, shakin' in bed / Visions of her naked in my head / But I went off and chose myself instead,” Mendes sings.
This track is reminiscent of a country-folk sing-a-long with background vocals and finger picking that accompanies his cathartic lyrics.
“Heart of Gold” is a beautiful track that bears the grief and pain of Mendes’s childhood friend, Deijomi, who died in 2018 after a drug overdose, according to a song bio from Genius.
While sounding like an easy road trip song to listen to, the lyrics are filled with Mendes’s heart wrenching reflections on Deijomi’s life.
In the chorus, Mendes sings, “You left too soon, it was out of your control / Underneath your skin and bone / You had a heart of gold.”
“The Mountain” is by far my favorite track on the album not only because of its tranquil melodies and general sound but also because of its deep meaning and attention grabbing lyrics.
The first verse reminds me of Lizzy McAlpine’s 2020 song “To The Mountains,” but takes the listener into some of the darker thoughts and concepts Mendes has faced.
“I took a sip from the fountain / I took a pill to be free” Mendes sings.
Mendes directly calls out the pressure he deals with regarding his sexuality in the chorus, “You can say I'm too young / You can say I'm too old / You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever fits your mold.”
These lyrics ring incredibly familiar and true for me personally because I’ve dealt with some of these issues as a young adult coming to terms with my identity.
The last track of “Shawn” features him covering “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen with an acoustic guitar background to close out the record.
Mendes started his music career by sharing covers of famous songs on Vine, according to People Magazine. This conclusion to the album may seem like an understatement but is actually a callback to his past and who he is today.
Though fans may have felt that they have outgrown Mendes’s music, “Shawn” drew me back in with a sound that is relatable and true for one of music’s most popular voices in the past decade.
