Going into my Shawn Mendes concert in St. Paul on Tuesday, August 2nd, I was beyond stressed. I had originally bought a ticket to the show from a girl who took my money and ran, my phone had broke and wasn't turning back on, I was already so late that I was going to miss the opening act, and when I finally got to the venue I couldn't even find the door for the entrance. To be quite honest, I was mainly going to the show for a fun time and because I knew a little more than half of his songs. However, when I left afterwards, I was in a completely better mood and was blown away by how talented Shawn actually was.
Walking through the doors of the Roy Wilkins Auditorium (I was actually shocked that he wasn't playing in arenas), I was faced with a booth plastered in sticky notes. Shawn, noticing that a lot of his fans, friends, and today's population overall have been struggling with depression and self-harm, had decided to start a project called "#spreadjoy" where his fans can go and write positive notes, sticking them on the walls of the booth for someone to read later on and hopefully boost their self-esteem. I found the idea so creative and uplifting, and have never seen anything like this done by an artist at their shows. I was already a bigger fan of Shawn's and I hadn't even taken ten steps through the door yet.
Shawn started off the night with one of his most powerful singles, "Something Big." To add to the energy of his opening song, Mendes was also found beat-boxing, adding layers of complexity through his guitar with the help of his loop pedal, and rapping part of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". The first thought I had to myself was, "Wow, he's like a mini Ed Sheeran," (who I later found out is one of Shawn's biggest musical inspirations).
Throughout the night, I was thoroughly impressed over and over again not only by Shawn's strong voice for his young age and how early on he is in his music career, but was also impressed by his dedication to his fans and his music (and his jaw-dropping stage production). Multiple times throughout the night Mendes was found stepping away from the microphone to let his fans take over his singing, even making a short speech during one of his newer songs, "So tomorrow when you wake up, and you go to say hi and you have no voice, I want this to be the reason right here... I've been across the United States multiple times now and I keep coming back to the Twin Cities and you guys are always one of the loudest crowds. I need you guys to prove that to me."
Regardless, I could clearly hear the entire crowd screaming lyrics back to him during the whole hour-long performance. Mendes even stopped the show a couple of times to give the audience an insight on what a few of his songs are written about. He informed the crowd on one of his personal favorites, "A Little Too Much", stating it was a song he wrote for personal reasons and had helped him through a lot, and now he's finding that fans across the globe are telling him stories about how that one particular song is helping them too.
In conclusion, I left the venue in awe and was shocked at how good the show actually was. I, personally, believe that Shawn deserves a lot more credit and praise for how talented he is not just vocally, but also as a person.
I give Shawn Mendes two years. Two years to grow as a writer, musician and all around-performer. It will give him two more years of experience and inspiration not only in the music industry but in the world itself. It will give his fans two years to grow and mature with him. And lastly, two years to write and experiment with different music styles that will hopefully get him to the perfect sound and image he wants to portray for himself.
