Shawn Mendes joins Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe to talk about his new songs ‘Why Why Why' and ‘Isn't That Enough', from his upcoming new album ‘Shawn'.
During the conversation Mendes sheds light on the process of creating his new music and the feeling of freedom and self-acceptance that came with it. He also talks about the importance of stripping back and getting back to the basics of music, describing his upcoming album as his most honest and natural work yet.
Shawn Mendes tells Apple Music what his new song ‘Isn’t That Enough' means to him…
I think when I started writing this album, it was really just like, can I do this again? I felt zero pressure to address anything, to write about anything in particular. It was just can I make music and can I feel good about making it again? And then ‘Isn’t That Enough' was kind of like I was up against this wall every day. We were in the studio and then all those walls kind of broke and everything stripped back, and it was just me with a guitar singing in a room. It felt good to record and write like that again. Even for me as a singer, I was like, “Oh, I forgot how good it feels to just sing live with nothing in your ears, just next to someone who's singing from the heart.”
On playing ‘Isn’t That Enough' to his mum for the first time…
Completely out of my mom's vernacular, but I remember when I played her the song and the video, the first thing she said was, “Oh wow, babe, you found yourself.” And it's like, my mom would never say words like that. It's not something she would say, it gave me chills when she said it. When your mom says that, it hits a little different.
On his upcoming album feeling natural…
It feels like the most natural thing I've ever made, and it's great, and it also feels like the most natural thing to talk about it. It feels like the most natural thing to play live. It kind of feels easier than it ever has in a really lovely way.
On his new song ‘Why Why Why'…
Zane: Fans would rightfully have reasons to have felt concerned, because the way the picture's been painted in recent years is that the joy has been lacking. And so it's nice to hear the song start with some joy.
Shawn: I think that was also a big part of it, even with ‘Isn't That Enough' I felt like I had a conversation with the fans and with the public just to be “how are you?” I needed to address that “hey, how have you been?” And I needed to say back, “I'm good. Everything's good. It's going to be good. It's all right.” [With ‘Why Why Why’] I felt no pressure to address anything, but it was one of those experiences where it kind of became this joke while we were making the album that was if I started to experience some pretty heavy anxiety in the studio, everyone was sure that a great song was going to be coming after it because there was some sort of healing crisis, some sort of breakthrough that was supposed to happen.
On why he decided to release the new songs together…
There was something anthemic about those words, “why, why, why.” It almost felt like a cry. It felt like… I don't know. It felt powerful and beautiful, and that's why I wanted that to go with ‘Isn't That Enough’. I wanted people to feel the spectrum of the song and space.
On being truthful on his upcoming album…
I realised there was two options for me. It was literally like, I'm going to go down this path of speaking my exact truth or I'm going to dance around it. It felt pointless to dance around it, even if the song was never to see the light of day, I was like, “Why are we here dancing around it?” So yeah, it felt like I crossed a big threshold, and I think it feels really liberating, even to be in a space where I've done that as a writer. Now I feel more free to do that as a human.
The full episode is available on Apple Music now.
