Among the artists who have released new music in recent days is Canadian Shawn Mendes, who has announced a new album. ‘Shawn’ is out on October 18 and, for now, it is presented with two previews, ‘Why Why Why’ and ‘Isn’t that Enough?’.
Mendes, like Katy Perry, has experienced one of the most inexplicable falls of recent years. From selling 3 million copies of ‘Shawn Mendes’, his first self-titled album, as we now know there will be two; he went on to crash in the charts with ‘Wonder’, his 2020 album, which neither the collaboration with his compatriot – and imagined rival – Justin Bieber, nor its release at Christmas, the time of year when most albums are sold, managed to lift in the charts.
‘Wonder’, the lead single from that album, cannot be considered a commercial failure when it is around 600 million streams on Spotify. However, it is true that it did not take over the world as ‘There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back’, ‘Treat You Better’ or of course ‘Señorita’ with Camila Cabello did in the past. The poor sales of ‘Wonder’, much lower than those of Mendes’ previous albums, meant that only two singles were released from that work.
Shawn Mendes’ next steps were equally unstable. Although the streams of ‘When You’re Gone’ and ‘It’ll Be Okay’ would be enviable for anyone – both are around 300 million – both songs passed unnoticed on the charts. In 2022, Mendes cancelled his world tour to take care of his mental health. Meanwhile, gossip magazines did not stop talking about the comings and goings of his relationship with Camila Cabello. In 2023, Mendes released a charity song, ‘What the Hell Are We Dying For?’, which was not talked about much.
There could be a number of reasons why Mendes’ commercial deflation has been so great. Maybe his approach is too similar to Ed Sheeran’s, or maybe Bruce Springsteen’s nostalgic sound just isn’t finding its place on the charts. Maybe Mendes’ recent songs just haven’t been as inspired. But it’s hard to attribute Mendes’ downfall to mere bad luck when you factor in his relationship with Camila Cabello and the string of cringe moments he left behind, all of which have been immortalized on the internet. When you go from being an unattainable idol, a God, to being an embarrassment to others, you can expect some fans to jump ship.
All of these factors may have played a role in the fact that, in a highly competitive industry that is getting rid of idols at lightning speed, Mendes has gone almost five years without making an impact on the charts like he did in his not-so-distant era of commercial glory. This may change thanks to ‘Why Why Why’, the lead single from ‘Shawn’, as the song is slowly starting to make its mark against all odds. At the moment, we can’t call it a miracle, but the fact that ‘Why Why Why’ has climbed to number 144 on Spotify’s global chart today – after debuting at number 60 – climbing 49 positions after a week on the market, means that the song has not completely disappeared from view. And that’s good news.
The success of ‘Why Why Why’ should be a piece of cake for two reasons: the song, with its country-pop echoes and banjo, is the kind that English-speaking radio stations will eat with potatoes. The chorus sung in the barroom style of the Lumineers or Mumford and Sons is a treat and the rhythm of the song is cheerful and catchy. But, above all, Shawn Mendes returns to an ecosystem full of (male) singer-songwriters in his style that you’ve probably never heard of: right now Benson Boone, Myles Smith, Mark Ambor and Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners are producing some of the most successful songs in the world, drawing on American tradition. Shawn Mendes, who, by the way, is only 26 years old, fits into the same mold and, in addition, delivers a song that is quite good. At least, it is not as intense as the screaming ‘Beautiful Things’…
