A whole bunch of love and breakup tracks mixed with the instrumental sounds of a piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and drums; makes up an amazing musical artist and songwriter by the name of Shawn Mendes.
Mendes was born in Ontario, Canada, but after he was born, his family moved to Toronto, Canada and this is where he was raised for most of his life. In 2013, he started doing cover videos on Vine and within a couple of months, he gained millions of views and followers. By August of 2014, Shawn Mendes was the third most followed musician on Vine. In result of this, artist manager Andrew Gertler discovered Mendes and would eventually sign him to Island Records.
Shawn Mendes released his first single "Life of the Party" in June of 2014. The results of his first single was that he became the youngest 15-year-old artist to debut in the top 25 with a debut song on the Billboard Hot 100. Before releasing his full-length album Mendes went on a nationwide tour with Austin Mahone as an opening act. While on tour he released his self-titled EP; it peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and sold 48,000 copies in its first week. His debut EP allowed him to win the Teen Choice award in 2014 for Webstar in Music.
On April 15, 2015, Shawn Mendes released his full-length album "Handwritten." The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 106,000 copies in its first week. "Life of the Party" was the lead single off the album and following this he released two other singles: "Something Big" and "Stitches". A couple months following the release of his full-length album Shawn Mendes released the revisited edition of "Handwritten" . This edition includes five live recorded tracks from Greek Theater and four brand new songs. The lead single off of the revisited edition was "I Know What You Did Last Summer" featuring Fifth Harmony member Camilla Cabello. This single peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
There is a total of sixteen songs on "Handwritten Revisited" and each provides the sound of an acoustic guitar with Shawn's romantic vocals. Below is a list of my favorite songs from this album.
Song 1: Never Be Alone
Song 2: Stitches
Song 3: Something Big
Song 4: I Don't Even Know Your Name
Song 5: This Is What It Takes
A year following the release of his first full-length album Shawn Mendes was ready to release a second album. The title of his second album was "Illuminate" and it was released on September 23, 2016. The lead single off the album was "Treat You Better" and it was released on June 3, 2016. Following the release of the single Mendes released a music video to the single on July 12, 2016 and it's storyline was about an abusive relationship. Since it's release the single has peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single to follow was "Mercy" which was released on August 18, 2016 and the music video for the single came out on September 22, 2016. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.
There is a total of fifteen songs on "Illuminate" deluxe edition and each provides the sound of an different instrumental sound with Shawn's raspy vocals. Below is a list of my favorite songs from this album.
Song 1: Bad Reputation
Song 2: Ruin
Song 3: Mercy
Song 4: No Promises
Song 5: Roses
I hope everyone enjoyed this music review and hopefully you guy listen to Shawn Mendes.
