Shawn Mendes - Shawn

chasingthepast

chasingthepast

I think he expressed himself beautifully and you can tell he was relieved when he said those words.

I doubt it’s a marketing trick and in any case it’s very brave of him to talk about it so truthfully especially since he’s been hounded for this half his life.

I hope he has the space and ability to live his honest, authentic truth whatever that may be.
 
cosmicfox

cosmicfox

freelancer23 said:
*He* uses his sexuality, or his management/label/team/society/ weight of cultural expectation does?

After Liam Payne’s death especially let’s please pay attention to what the f^cking *machine* of capitalism does to young people, who are often emotionally infantilised by their disrupted adolescence while simultaneously being presented as hyper-adult in a way that should make all of us deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

I’m afraid there’s a straight (so to speak) line from thinking a 26 year old person in our image and objectification-oriented world has been “playing” anyone with their own journey around their sexuality and self-expression; to the kinds of “they were asking for it” vileness spewed out by abusers who try to externalise their own impulses and detach themselves from their own responsibility for their own actions.
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This is one of the biggest fears I've had with wanting to become an artist, especially after how inspired I was by male artists like Liam and Shawn as a teenager, seeing now that the former is no longer with us and the latter seems to have been closer to that brink than we give him credit for.
 
jtm

jtm

I hope he finds happiness, but if he lands on the gay side of this discovery phase there‘s even less excuses for some of his output.

But in all seriousness, if you watch the Netflix (?) documentary from a few years ago you can‘t help but notice how he comes over as thoroughly uninteresting as if either the business or he himself had decided for some vanilla popstar personality without any edges at all and keep the rest of it hidden away. It annoyed me at the time but it just feels really relatable right now if that‘s what it was.
 
boom bazooka joe

boom bazooka joe

he/him

Trouble in Paradise said:
when it comes to the human being Shawn Mendes, I hope he continues to find joy and space for himself to grow. When it comes to the pop star, I need him to call Teddy <3, write a bop and keep his shirt on.
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I blame you for this.

I like the new song, but then I've liked all the songs he's released from the album so far.

I'm happy to see that he seems to be garnering a lot of support and people are easing off on him a bit. This feels not dissimilar to when the internet bullied Kit Connor to come out as bisexual because he got so much shit for being a "straight actor" in Heartstopper. Why are we still doing this to celebrities in 2024? His statement said a lot (despite kind of not saying anything ddd). It's interesting as an elder queer who was part of the generation that felt so oppressed and silenced that we were desperate to be able to label ourselves loudly and proudly when we could, where the younger generation is way less interested in that and more open to the idea that their sexuality is undefined, fluid, and constantly changing. Like, in my day, you absolutely would not say you are gay until you were emphatically sure, whereas these days, young people are more open to the gray area and that "here's where I am now, tomorrow it may be different." I hope wherever Shawn ends up he's happy, and there's an open spot in my bed if needs to be really sure.
 
bad karma

bad karma

he/him
Well… It’s quite good! It’s not going to win anyone over who was turned off by the singles (although Nobody Knows is the worst thing on it) but it does have enough variety that it kept my interest and I feel like he’s been able to pull this off.

I am very curious how it’s going to go down critically and commercially, it feels like both could go either way.
 
boom bazooka joe

boom bazooka joe

he/him
Yeah - I like it a lot. It's certainly not going to convert anyone, but I can see myself spinning this a lot this fall/winter. Some of the songs are too short, but I'm trying to just accept that as a fact of life these days and not let it affect my enjoyment of music.
 
bad karma

bad karma

he/him
Having listened to this quite a lot this morning this may actually be his strongest album for me, sure it doesn’t have the hits some of his previous ones have but it is a tight cohesive collection.
 
Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson

It feels like he listened to Boyfriends on the last Harry Styles record, then decided to write a whole album in that vein.

Its pleasant and catchy enough, but all the singles have flopped and I suspect the album won’t hang around long either.

Considering Wonder didn’t set the world on fire, I wouldn’t have put this album out at this particular time. Still, maybe he doesn’t care about hits and just wanted to try something different.
 
boom bazooka joe

boom bazooka joe

he/him
Tommy Johnson said:
Considering Wonder didn’t set the world on fire, I wouldn’t have put this album out at this particular time. Still, maybe he doesn’t care about hits and just wanted to try something different.
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I know all artists want their music to be successful, but considering the big break he took, I imagine he's content with a much more modest version of celebrity and fame and isn't as interested in this album totally blowing up anyway.
 
Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson

boom bazooka joe said:
I know all artists want their music to be successful, but considering the big break he took, I imagine he's content with a much more modest version of celebrity and fame and isn't as interested in this album totally blowing up anyway.
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Probably so. Seems like he might be taking the George Michael route.

I was shocked to see he’s only 26... Feels like he’s been around for ages. Thought he’d be early thirties.
 
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