Shawn Mendes
Shawn Mendes
Shawn Peter Raul Mendesis a Canadian singer-songwriter. He attracted a following in 2013, when he began posting song covers on the popular video sharing application Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist managers Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal with the record label. Mendes went on to release an EP and his debut studio album Handwritten, whose single "Stitches" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada,...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth8 August 1998
CityToronto, Canada
CountryCanada
Island Records was the first record label to... acknowledge me. After that, quickly, Republic Records, and then Atlantic Records, Sony Records and Warner Bros. It was all the labels at once. It was absolutely insane, like, knowing that this many record labels were interested in me.
I used to write stories. Handwriting stories in school were a big deal for me. That's kind of what I did.
To be honest, I've only been to one concert, and it was Aerosmith. Aerosmith and Slash.
There's nothing that scares me more than, like, being in the ocean by myself.
I think I was just bored one summer afternoon, and I decided to post a little video of me singing and playing guitar out of tune.
Growing up in a suburban home, the world seems so massive to you. It seems like cities are so big and so far away, and there's so much in them. So your imagination runs wild, instead of when you are born in the middle of Manhattan, you'd know, like, that this is the biggest city.
I work so hard to make that sure I'm successful. If you're positive and really excited and enthusiastic about what you're doing, it's going to happen, and it's going to happen big time.
I was super-obsessed with cover videos. When I was, like, 10, I would come home from school and watch them from 4 o'clock until 8 o'clock every night. I was so intrigued that people took these super-popular songs and did them their own way.
My first Vine I really just posted out of spontaneity.
There are times when I'm super-overwhelmed, and everything feels like it's hitting me in the face at once, but I think what's keeping me calm, and who I am by staying true to myself, is my whole family being so supportive and keeping me grounded. They treat me the exact same way they treated me years and years ago.
I'm all over the place with muffins. Carrots are great. Banana, chocolate chip, they rock, too.
I feel like every time I write a song, it feels like the first time I wrote a song. It's just as hard; it doesn't get easier, but that's why I love it: because it's a challenge every time. I also feel like I'm learning new ways.
Every time I write a song my approach changes.
I think when you have raw emotion in a song, it makes it great.