Shawn Mendes: (The Album) Review

A heavenly tune by the gentle strums of the guitar strings, along with soft beats of the drums and light piano keys rings into your ears. Then, a gently voice of a man sings along the melody, expressing each word with passion and meaning. It makes you listen. It makes you feel. It makes you move. That is the Shawn Mendes: (The Album) album, the third studio album by Canadian singer/songwriter, Shawn Mendes. By far, it is one of the most aesthetically produced album I’m aware of now. Released on May 25, 2018 through Island Records, the running time of the album is 44 minutes and 8 seconds. It has become a musical sensation and drawn much attention among the youths and millennials around the world of today’s age.

The album consists of 14 tracks, along with 5 singles that debuted on different dates before the official release of the album. All tracks are sung solo by the artist himself, except for “Like To Be You” which featured Julia Michaels and “Youth” featuring American singer Khalid.

Like most people, I was introduced to the then-new-hit-single, “In My Blood” by the artist that came out on March 22, 2018. It became more prominent worldwide when the single’s music video was released on April 24th, 2018. It eventually became the first track to be put on the album. The song touches and expresses more towards on Mendes’s daily struggles with anxiety, giving majority of listeners or fans a sense of relatability with the artist himself. Since “In My Blood” is the first track in the album, it provides a small hint of what the album’s genre and style is heading towards. According to sources, the Shawn Mendes: (The Album) album is generically a pop album, but as I listened to all 14 tracks, there are some tracks that hints some pop-rock and R&B tunes. Majority of the songs are written by Mendes himself along with other singer-songwriters such as Ryan Tedder of One Republic and Ed Sheeran.

Shawn Mendes: (The Album) Soundtrack List

Source: Genius

The songs in the album mostly express personal feelings within a timeline during relationships and feelings of love towards someone. By mostly using personal pronouns in the lyrics, it allows or gives the listeners a sense of visualization, as if they were really put in the sweet yet subtly romantic ambient with the artist. In other words, each song engages with the listeners.

Besides all the tracks which can be deemed as romantic and personal, the song “Youth” by Mendes featuring Khalid stands out most among all the tracks. It was inspired by the terrorist suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena bombing during an Ariana Grande concert back in May 2017. The tragic event devastated and many young boys and girls. The song was written as a motivation for the youths around the world to be brave and strong towards traumatic obstacles.

Out of all the 14 tracks that I’ve listened to from the album, my favourite would be “Fallin All In You” which was also co-written by the famous Ed Sheeran. The song opens up about the feeling to be falling in love with someone that you’ve spent for one night. The lyrics engages with the listener making her feel important and as if she is the one spending time with the handsome artist himself and being carried away by his angelic voice and clever words.

In terms of package design and overall the album’s artistic design, this album does show a side of femininity. Mendes himself has publicly shown transparently that he isn’t like many men out there and tends to be more feminine. Despite Mendes’s soft side, he stood up against the discriminating rumors of his sexuality. The flowers and colour toning really brings out the aesthetic values of the album and also dives into the artist’s persona. I also believe that this album really embraces the gentle and feminine touches in the artist and brings justice against toxic masculinity.

In order to further promote his album, Shawn Mendes and his team has embarked on a world tour called Shawn Mendes: The Tour which recently began on the 7th of March, 2019 in Amsterdam and it is set to conclude by the end of 2019 in Mexico City. Among the tour dates, Mendes announced on the 22nd of April 2019 that he will also be scheduled to tour Asia as well. Malaysia is included in the list this time which is exciting news for the Malaysian fans. Shawn Mendes will be performing live at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on the 5th of October this year. I personally am stoked about this upcoming event.

Shawn Mendes: The Tour Malaysia promotional poster

Source: Instagram

Overall, the album has been critically acclaimed to be one of Mendes’s more matured and engaging works throughout his music career. The full album can be found on iTunes and Spotify. It is also sold digitally and physically along with merchandises that are all available on the official Shawn Mendes website.

In my opinion and out of 5, I would like to give this album a 4.5 out of 5 rating since it has made my days very calming and sometimes dreamy. I would usually wake up and go on Spotify and play the songs in the album almost every day. The gentle melody gives me a soft wake up call, the music and lyrics soothes me when I’m alone or busy. It also drives me to sleep during sleepless nights. The album is total calming package that I really enjoy. I would highly recommend it to someone who’s into aesthetic emotions and slow beats or in general likes Shawn Mendes.