Singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes is a well known world phenomenon, gaining fame in 2013 on the now terminated app vine, posting six second singing videos. This alone made him a social media star, and eventually landed him a record deal with Island Records in 2014. Since then, Mendes has released three studio albums, the most recent one dropping on Friday, May 25. The self-titled album features 14 tracks from the pop star, including the hit single”In My Blood” which was released in early March, along with “Lost in Japan”. In addition to those, Mendes offers a variety of sounds, ranging from upbeat tunes such as “Particular Taste” and “Queen”, to slow and heartfelt songs such as “Why” and “Perfectly Wrong”. The singer also features two other artists on the album, teaming up with grammy awarding winning artist Julia Michaels on the love hate track “Like to be You”, and MTV’s Best New Artist award winner Khalid on the track “Youth”. “Youth” is inspired by the recent school shooting events.  Mendes and Khalid were joined by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas choir to perform the song at the Billboard Music Awards.

In an interview with E! News, Mendes speaks about how personal this album  is to him.

“There are multiple tracks that are about situations that are going on in my life, which were terrifying because it is clear who I am writing about within me and that person,” Mendes said. The album itself is expected to reach number one, as did Mendes’ other two albums Handwritten and Illuminate. “In My Blood” peaked at number 20 on the Billboard charts, and is expected to creep up with the release of the album. With his album out and a worldwide tour set for 2019, this looks like it is going to be a great year for the “Mendes Army” and Mendes himself. Shawn Mendes:The Album is now streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.