Shawn Mendes is entering a new era of vulnerability and authenticity.
On Nov. 15, Shawn dropped his fifth studio album titled Shawn.
Shawn was his first full-length project since the 2020 album Wonder and his much-publicized mental health break after Wonder: The World Tour was canceled.
The 26-year-old singer’s return to the spotlight was presented with several singles from the album, including “Why Why Why,” “Nobody Knows,” and “Heart of Gold,” along with several live performances, including the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and a live concert film of his intimate production Shawn Mendes: For Friends and Family Only performance.
As the scantily clad imagery of Shawn in the album materials and on stage suggests, the fifth album is intended to be a stripped-down version of the singer, revisiting themes of his past projects in a new light with maturity and an open-minded perspective.
On Nov. 14, Shawn sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to discuss the album and his journey of personal growth and healing. It’s clear that a lot can change once your frontal lobe becomes fully developed.
The “Señorita” singer’s musical talent has always been accompanied by speculation of his personal life, prominently his romantic relationships and sexuality, and he shed light on that in the interview.
Shawn admitted that they have tried to maintain a friendship but are drifting apart from their past connection. “I think we haven’t been the closest over the last couple of years,” he said. “But I think we really know each other.”
“We spent a lot of time together, we really know each other’s hearts. Even when all the sound and all the noise is happening, we can kinda see through each other’s bullshit pretty easily. And it’s just nice to have that.”
He explained to Zane that having Camila in his life at the time provided discipline because “that’s where I’m out of balance.”
“She would get very angry with me for not having a cheeseburger,” he said jokingly. “And it was great. It was huge. I needed that at the time in my life.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Shawn discussed why he chose to discuss his sexuality last month and said it’s because he wants to live in his “authentic truth,” another sign of his artistic evolution after his hiatus. For most of his career, Shawn expressed that the obsession around his sexuality was upsetting, but now he’s taking control of the conversation.
If you remember, on Oct. 28 Shawn performed his then new “The Mountain” live, which included the lyrics: “I have a change of heart / you can say what you need to say / 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 / But I’ve never been better / So call it what you want.”
Discussing the song with Zane, Shawn said he wrote it after being “confused” and “hurt” by public perception.
“Humans, we’re pretty fragile,” he said. “When you have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people projecting their opinion of who they think you are and why they think you’re that onto you… The human brain is fragile.”
“I’ve had times where I’ve been reading what people think about me, and it’s gotten to the point where I’m like: ‘Maybe that’s true,'” Shawn continued. “It’s sad because I think about little Shawn, like, 15, 16-year-old Shawn, who is just trying to do his best job and has no idea.”
Shawn addressed speculation that these new vulnerable lyrics were just for publicity. “If you’re not saying anything, you’re hiding,” he said. “And if you’re saying something, you’re promoting it. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“I’ve been in this for 10 years, so I think sometimes, like: ‘OK, you know, I can do this, I’m 26, I know who I am, I can do this, I can speak some truth,'” Shawn concluded. “So maybe the next generation of artists feel a little more comfortable, [have] a little more permission to speak, and that’s important to me.”
Finally, during the interview, Shawn expressed why he’s embracing this new chapter of authenticity: “I’ve never had more tools at my disposal, whether that’s like therapy or my own personal tools or just like friends who truly know who are constantly available.”
Shawn Mendes’s fifth album, Shawn, is a landmark, signifying that the adolescent image molded by inexperience and the desire to fit in has been deconstructed and reshaped into something new. Much like Miley Cyrus’s Endless Summer, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, or Dominic Fike’s Sunburn (all albums I thoroughly enjoyed), Shawn is a necessary reclamation of individual identity.
Shawn is now available everywhere.
Will you be listening? What do you think of Shawn Mendes’ new album and its message of vulnerability and authenticity? Let’s discuss it in the comments.
