To become famous by posting vines online takes a lot of luck and not everybody has that luck. Shawn Mendes had it and he was the third most followed person on Vine by 2014. Meanwhile the artist manager Andrew Gertler discovered him in November 2013, bringing him to Island Records in January. Shawn officially signed in May 2013 and released his first single “Life of the party”. Handwritten is his first album which he released in April 2015. In this album he is cooperating with The Vamps and Astrid.
The album starts with the single “Life of the party”. This song is perfect for a beginning of an album. The next song is the single “Stiches”. This is definitely the biggest hit of the album. The song easily gets stuck in your head so if you play it once I guarantee that afterwards you’ll find yourself humming it. Than it goes on the songs “Never be alone” and “Kid in love” which are really relaxing. They’ve got a perfect balance between the guitar, the piano and Shawn’s voice. The next song is called “Show you”. This song has a really interesting lyrics. Than it goes on with the song “I don’t even know your name”. This is a relaxing song and that’s why the next song is “Something big” which is the most energetic song so far. “Strings” is also an energetic song but not as much as “Something big”. The next song is called “Aftertaste”. Shawn really knows to bring it just the way it has to be. And it has a beautiful guitar melody all along. The next two songs are “Oh Cecilia” in which he’s cooperating with the vamps and “Air” in which he’s cooperating with Astrid. The next 4 songs “Crazy”, “A little too much”, “This is what it takes” and “Bring it back” are just for listening with closed eyes and relaxing. There are other very good songs in this album like “Believe”, “imagination”, “ The weight”, “Don’t want your love” etc.
I think that Shawn Mendes is one of the greatest singers these days, especially knowing that he learned to play the guitar on youtube. It can’t be a coincidence that he got famous like that. He has to be a very good singer to bring so much attention.
When it comes to the album I think it’s great. I can’t get bored listening to it because every song is beautiful on it’s own.
“The Vine component was not a factor in me signing Shawn,” Island Records president David Massey says. “The fan base is give you a story to take to radio and other media partners.”
