Shawn Mendes album lacks element of surprise
Teen pop singer Shawn Mendes teased his fans with his new single “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” as an addition to his Illuminate album. Released April 20, Mendes said that he wanted to come out with a single before he started his “Illuminate” world tour April 27 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Mendes released the deluxe 15-track album in September including a collection of soft, slow songs including “Bad Reputation” and a few quicker-tempo songs like “No Promises.”
Although Mendes has an incredibly soothing voice, I would have liked if he had stepped out of his comfort zone with more of an upbeat sound. His songs sound similar in a way with always the same tone and acoustic guitar or piano which isn’t a bad thing since I liked close to every song on the album. With his tour coming up, I would want to stay awake for the entire performance rather than fall asleep because his voice is relaxing.
While the album itself is well done, the downfall was the inability to distinguish each song since they all sounded so similar. Utilizing different instruments and increasing the tempo would add more diversity to his already established acoustic sound. Instead of releasing the only lively songs as singles, Mendes should save some as a surprise for his album.
Here is his new single, whole album and upcoming tour dates.
3.5/5
Julia Maldonado can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter.
maddie // Apr 28, 2017 at 1:09 pm
You know what, I honestly think his new song is wonderful most of his songs on his new album are up beat and if you think about it most of the singer’s when they relase a single it’s up beat how often do you see a slow song make it big you don’t see that oftenly so singer’s release up beat songs I give his new song a 5/5 plus I don’t see you out here singing your heart out,making albums,writing hit songs, prefroming for people so how about you try and write a couple of songs without them sounding the same on another note great article atleast you tried.
Julia // Apr 28, 2017 at 6:11 pm
Hi Maddie,
You’re right. Lots of artists don’t release a lot of slow songs for singles, but if I do recall, Life of the Party was an extremely slow song and that was his first single. He chose that as a single over Show You or One of Those Nights, both of which were faster.
His music is amazing and I think his album was well written overall. I just wish that he would save some more upbeat songs as surprises, rather than release all of the upbeat songs and have lots of slow ones. His fans will love whatever he releases, so it shouldn’t matter if he releases a slow song as a single.
maddie // May 1, 2017 at 9:10 am
Hi, Julia
I think you have good points but, the thing is his album should not get a 3.5 It should get a 3.8 in your case of liking the album
Grace // Apr 28, 2017 at 1:01 pm
1st, I love Shawn and his music. 2nd, I can tell the difference between all of his songs and maybe the reason you can’t is because you aren’t a true fan. 3rd, you said you would fall asleep at his concert. Another reason you must not be a true fan. If I went to his concert I would be to darn excited to see him that I probably wouldn’t sleep that night or the next. This article was very stupid and upsetting.
Julia // Apr 28, 2017 at 5:48 pm
Hi Grace,
I never said I was a true fan of Shawn. I love his music and there was nothing wrong with any of the songs on the album. It was wonderful.
I saw Shawn front row in concert in 2014 with his little sister and he was incredible. No way I would have fallen asleep since I was excited. However, like I said, his voice is very relaxing and it could put me to sleep, which is not a bad thing. If I said it was boring, that would be another story.
The point is, Shawn is a wonderful artist and I admire his music. I am critiquing his album and giving my honest opinion / first impression, meaning I didn’t memorize the album word for word before reviewing.
maddie // May 1, 2017 at 10:35 am
hey, Grace
hey I understand where you’re coming from but to sit here and call her article stupid is not very kind shawn would not approve of that and trust me im a hard core fan i have the calander,his ep and 3 handwritten CD’s and just a bunch of stuff in here so I understand it hurts when people hurt our baby shawn but don’t call her article stupid she worked hard on it if you disagree with me then oh well