Shawn Mendes shot to fame in the digital age after uploading a series of his cover versions to various video-sharing sites. He earned a dedicated following on social media. Mendes’ youth and good looks quickly garnered fans and attention, earning him a record deal. He released his debut album in 2014, where his single “Life of the Party” charted at number 24 on the Billboard 100. It made the then-15-year-old Mendes the youngest artist to debut a song in the Top 25.
Although Mendes is often dubbed the next Justin Bieber, his musical style matches his idol - Ed Sheeran. Mendes quickly transitioned to compose his own songs and his mostly teenage female fans have supported his platinum-selling hits, as well as his arena-sized concerts.
If you are a fan of Shawn Mendes, here are 7 things you should know about the Canadian (yes, he’s not American).
1. His career began on a now-defunct social media app
Vine was launched in January 2013 and its popularity quickly gathered speed. It was the platform to go to for scrolling through all genres of videos. It was during this time that Mendes did a cover of Adele’s “Hometown Glory”, which he posted on Vine. He became a celebrity overnight through the three-minute video and accumulated half a billion loops. A year later, Mendes had a million followers and around 40,000 Twitter fans. At this point in his career, he was only 15 years old.
2. The youngest artist to debut at number one
Mendes released his full-length album “Handwritten” in April 2015. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 106,000 copies in its first week, and was certified platinum. He became the youngest artist to debut at number one since Justin Bieber’s “My World 2.0”.
3. A self-taught musician
The young star taught himself to play the guitar by watching tutorials on YouTube. He recalled, “I would type in things like, “How to play beginner songs on guitar”, in an interview with Telegraph. “I was obsessed with it. Every day, I’d play and think, I’m not good enough yet; I need to get better. Then I’d play for hours and hours.”
His obsession with YouTube tutorials enabled him to perform covers and also led him to post his own across social media. He became determined to pursue music and began taking up vocal lessons.
4. His dream was to act
While Mendes is a popular musician with an arsenal of love songs to ignite young hearts, he can also act. Shawn revealed that when he was a child, his dream was to become a famous actor.
He took acting classes and auditioned for Disney and remembered how nervous he was with trying to remember his lines. Despite his nervousness in remembering lines, he has had some acting roles under his name. He played Macallan on “The 100” and had a vocal part in “Underdogs” in 2015.
5. Headlined for Taylor Swift
In 2015, at the tender age of 17, Shawn Mendes opened as the headline performance on Taylor Swift’s “1989 World Tour”. He has gone on to front his own world tour.
6. He has won a lot of awards
Mendes has already won a number of awards: MTV Europe Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and People’s Choice awards are some of the accolades he has won as a musician.
7. A big fan of Harry Potter
Who isn’t a fan of Harry Potter? Mendes loved Harry Potter since he was young and is such a big fan he thought he was a wizard. His c
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