Five years ago, Canadian superstar Shawn Mendes was riding high; two Grammy nominations preceded a sold-out world tour and a lucrative gig as the face – and bulge – of Calvin Klein underwear. A tepid fourth album, 2020’s quickly forgotten Wonder, and a mental health break now finds Mendes steadily rebuilding from scratch.
Mainly eschewing the galloping pop-rock of old, Shawn’s 12 short tracks, including a superfluous cover of Leonard Cohen’s authenticity lodestar Hallelujah, focus on lilting, unadorned folk-rock. Pensive opener Who I Am, which picks over the fallout from his time away with candour, is stripped right back to acoustic guitar and distant backing vocals. The Mountain, meanwhile, follows a similar route but is memorable mainly for referencing Mendes’s much-discussed sexuality.
Mendes’s honeyed pop croon doesn’t really lend itself to such a stark light, however, with the bluesy Nobody Knows veering towards the polished boom-bap of the Lumineers rather than anything grittier. It’s a shame, because when he leans into that pop nous on excellent single Why Why Why and the beautiful 70s AOR of Heart of Gold – about the death of a childhood friend – he makes a stronger emotional connection.
