Introducing Shawn Mendes

Everybody is talking about Shawn Mendes so I decided to check on him. This is what I found out. Mendes is an exciting new talent from Toronto, Canada. He was discovered when his six-minute videos of him performing popular songs that he uploaded on the Net, started getting a lot of likes and views. This led to an appearance in Toronto’s Dundas Square that drew 2000 people.

Then, Mendes won the grand prize in the Ryan Seacrest Best Cover Song Contest on YouTube where he sang Say Something by A Great Big World. He was also the winner of the Web Star Award from Teen Choice last April. As of this writing, he already has 2.6 million followers on Vine; 610 subscribers on YouTube; 1.3 million followers on Instagram; 1.2 million followers on Twitter; 355,000 on Facebook; and best of all, his videos have received over 13 million views on YouTube. These are very interesting and very revealing statistics.

No, not that Mendes is a talented young man beginning to make a name for himself. We get those all the time. It is the fact that popularity is now being measured by social media following. It was not too long ago when recording artists were thought successful if they sold a lot of albums for which they receive Gold and Platinum awards or by how many people came to watch their shows or how their TV appearances rate. Those things still happen but before they do, there has to be Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, etc. etc.  How times have changed. Back now to Shawn.

And so here is Mendes, the latest YouTube sensation as they call those discoveries from the Net. He is also the latest from up there in North America and he comes on the heels of huge Canadian exports like Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. Mendes has proven himself a worthy addition to the list. He got his big break when he was only 15 years old. He is now 17 and his career is going great.

His first album Handwritten is a big hit. It debuted in the US and Canadian charts in the No. 1 slot. Thanks to its very commercial line-up, Mendes already has three incredibly catchy singles, Stitches, Life Of The Party and Something Big. He is also an adept songwriter. He composed Something Big and other cuts in his album. He is showing all the indications of being a major star.

Handwritten is loaded. It has 17 cuts, all of them new originals with several composed by Mendes. His sound is pop soul, very easy on the ears but filled with emotion. His singing style is a cross between Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz, a very good combination that is most appealing to music lovers nowadays. 

Remarkably, Mendes performs with the confidence of someone older. There is nothing cute or teeny bopperish about his sound. Given his talent and following, I can already imagine him ranked alongside Sheeran, Sam Smith or even Taylor Swift soon.

Meanwhile, here now are the current top-selling songs in the US of A as per Billboard’s Hot 100 songs list: Can’t Feel My Face by The Weeknd; The Hills, also by this phenomenal newcomer The Weeknd; What Do You Mean? by Justin Bieber; Watch Me by Silento; Cheerleader by OMI; Lean On by Major Lazer & DJ Snake featuring MO; Good For You by Selena Gomez featuring A$AP Rocky; 679 by Fetty Wap feat. Remy Boyz; Locked Away by R. City feat. Adam Levine; Photograph by Ed Sheeran;

Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato; Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift; Where Are You Now by Skrillex & Diplo with Justin Bieber; Stitches by Shawn Mendes; My Way by Fetty Wap feat. Monty; Hotline Bling by Drake; Fight Song by Rachel Platten; Trap Queen by Fetty Wap; Shut Up And Dance by Walk G The Moon; and Hit The Quan by @iHeartMemphis.

The Top 20 selling albums of the moment are:  Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd; Got You Six by Five Finger Death Punch; Rodeo by Travis Scott; The Book Of Souls by Iron Maiden; Wild by Troye Sivian; Kill The Lights by Luke Bryan; 1989 by Taylor Swift; Badlands by Halsey; X by Ed Sheeran; DS2 by Future.

Deeply Rooted by Scarface; No Closer To Heaven by The Wonder Years; Montevallo by Sam Hunt; Blurryface by twentyone pilots; Compton by Dr. Dre; Title by Meghan Trainor; Handwritten by Shawn Mendes; If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late by Drake; Now 55 by Various Artists; and Only Way Is Up by K Camp.