Shawn Mendes Went to the Woods and Came Back Sounding Like Noah Kahan
His fifth album, Shawn, is out on October 18.
Where has Shawn Mendes been for the past few years? In the woods, apparently. The pop singer-songwriter is emerging with his fifth album, Shawn (not to be confused with 2018’s Shawn Mendes), and he sounds a lot like Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan. Mendes teased his folkier era with a black-and-white trailer showing him playing new single “Isn’t That Enough” for friends around a campfire, cut with other photos of him in nature (often shirtless, naturally). “My hands still shaking / My mind’s still racing / My heart’s still breaking in two,” Mendes sings over acoustic guitar and a bit of harmonica and fiddle. The stomp-and-holler revival really does come for us all.
Mendes will release “Enough” and co–lead single “Why Why Why” on August 8, followed by the full album on October 18. It’s his first full-length since 2020’s Wonder, after which he canceled a tour and took a mental-health hiatus. “Music really can be medicine,” Mendes wrote on Instagram. “Two years ago, I felt like I had absolutely no idea who I was. A year ago, I couldn’t step into a studio without falling into complete panic. So to be here right now with 12 beautiful finished songs feels like such a gift.” A better-received gift, he must hope, than his ex’s pivot to hyperpop.
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