Shawn Mendes.Photo: Sami Drasin for Billboard
Shawn Mendeshas had a change in perspective.
During a cover story interview withBillboardout Monday, the “Treat You Better” singer opened up about his newfound inspiration to focus on leaving his mark.
“For me, it’s not to be like, ‘I have to change the world,'” Mendes, 25, told the outlet. “I’m just saying, that’s where my ambition goes — to influence culture. I want to honor the opportunity that I’ve been given as an artist, to make something very true.”
Shawn Mendes.Sami Drasin for Billboard
Moving forward, the star is working on a new album and is gearing up for his Wonder world tour, kicking off in June in Portland, Oregon. At the end of the day, however, it’s about the music — not the size of the venue — for Mendes.
“There was a long while where I was convinced that you just had to write big songs,” he said. Now, his priorities have shifted: “the type of music that I want to make, what I want to hear and what is important to me.”
Mendesreleased an emotional balladtitled “It’ll Be Okay” in December, two months after his split fromCamila Cabello.
Shortly after the song’s release, Mendes shared a message with fans, thanking them for connecting to the single — and confessed he washaving a hard time with social media.
“I’m having a little bit of a hard time with social media at the moment, just kind of my relationship with it, but I have lots of people sending me videos and telling me what’s going on,” he started the nearly two-minute clip posted to his page.
“I see a lot of TikToks of people crying and getting emotional and stuff, and I hope that’s because there’s some truth in the song [‘It’ll Be Okay’], and there lies honestly in it,” he continued.
Added Mendes: “I just feel so proud of that song and I’m so grateful you guys are connecting with it, and I feel so grateful that people are being vulnerable with it and people are just having fun with it.”
Meanwhile, Cabello, 25, released her latest single “Bam Bam,” a collaboration with Ed Sheeran earlier this month where she seeminglyaddressed her split from Mendes— and sings about the ways in which life has changed since.
source: people.com
