WRITTEN BY GRACIE VISCEGLIA
Shawn Mendes fans have been living in a drought for the past four years after the Canadian songwriter stepped off the stage for the last time in the middle of his Wonder tour. After announcing that he would no longer be continuing with the tour, the singer took a break from social media. But here he is singing songs again with his two most recent tracks, “Why Why Why” and “Isn’t That Enough”. Mendes has been open about his struggles with anxiety since the beginning of his career, which launched through the app Vine and his smash hit “Stitches “ in 2015. As a personal fan since his years on Vine, if you’ve watched his interviews and listened to his songs, you are pretty accustomed to hearing the singer talk about his struggles with mental health. His new track “Why Why Why”, however, dives much deeper than we’ve ever seen.
Throughout the entire track, we see this vulnerable side of Mendes that we’ve never seen before. The opening line of the song is “Opened up my journal to a page”, and as you continue to listen to the song, it almost feels just like that. As if he is letting us into what might have been going through his mind when he decided to cancel the rest of his tour back in 2022. He gets so personal that in the bridge he sings, “Thought I was about to be a father / Shook me to the core, I’m still a kid.” Like. What? Excuse me? A father?
The climax of the song however, doesn’t come until the second verse. The lyrics read, “I stepped off the stage with nothing left / All the lights were fuckin’ with my head / But here I am, singing songs again”, and continues into the chorus. To me, this felt like a such a special moment in the song. It was emotional to hear because he has been so open about what caused him to step of the stage for a while and how he has learned to overcome some of the challengers he’s faced, and for him this progress is shown in his songwriting.
Along with the two new tracks, his new album drops October 18th, sporting 10 other new songs. He is currently doing an intimate tour of only a few shows in select places, a ticket selection happening earlier this month. He is performing a lot of new music at these shows, so it is definitely a special event to be at. I know fans of Shawn Mendes are looking forward to hearing this new era of music from him and are fully supportive of everything he has to offer.