There are still some upbeat songs included like his single Treat you better & my personal favorite Patience - which has a summery feel to the tune. I've never been one to follow singers/bands before nor buy albums but something about Shawn Mendes' music drew me in! So I have to say WOW Shawn's second album is definitely his best yet, have been looking forward to it, and was worth the wait! I loved his first album so much, can't fault it, but this one has a much more grown up feel to it with it's many deep & meaningful songs that Shawn sings with such passion & emotion! His vocals have improved so much more with the lows, the perfect pitched highs and that raspy scream in the song Mercy which makes you really feel the song and emotion. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Mendes’ stab at a Jason Mraz-style narrative pays off as one of Illuminate’s most engaging moments, pairing classic singer-songwriter acoustic guitars with his more modern tale of a complicated fling.We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
But unlike his British peer, Mendes seems less interested in soaring poetics - which, considering that Illuminate’s lyrics are rarely confessional enough to be cringeworthy, may be for the best. The quick-footed guitar ballad nods towards Mendes’ most obvious radio soundalike, Ed Sheeran. Lest you think Illuminate is pure ‘00s-kid nostalgia, Patience nods more towards contemporary trends with its Kygo-meets-Mumford and Sons production that’d be at home on a handful of other pop releases this year. The album’s early pop hit, Treat You Better features the same light-footed stomp that made Mendes’ Stitches his breakthrough single late last year, with a similar earworm chorus that’s less sticky-sweet. The echoey choir backing the chorus’ pleas for mercy read a little too literally, but the song still emerges as one of Illuminate’s radio-bound highlights. Following Ruin’s promising start, Illuminate’s other attempts at slow-burning soul can’t quite surpass its high bar.
Illuminate’s opening track is Mendes’ take on D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel) by way of John Mayer’s Gravity, as he croons over wavering guitars and a thumping drum heartbeat. Want to start listening? Here are the six Illuminate tracks to listen to first. Elevating Illuminate from just run-of-the-mill ‘00s nostalgia is Mendes’ dexterous voice, colored by an affect that reads less like Justin Timberlake and more like Gavin DeGraw. Mendes has cited names like John Mayer and Jason Mraz as inspirations, and Illuminate proves he’s a faithful student, recalling Mraz’ guitar-strumming storytelling in its livelier moments and Mayer’s late-night soul in Mendes’ softer ballads. While the singer’s slightly-older pop peers take their musical cues from more vintage eras (Nick Jonas’ R&B flirtations, One Direction’s classic-rock nostalgia) or define their sound in current trends (Justin Bieber’s EDM collaborations), Mendes’ sophomore album Illuminate (out Friday) looks to the late-aughts singer-songwriters who ruled pop and adult contemporary radio when the young singer was growing up. At the ripe old age of 18, Shawn Mendes is a throwback as only someone in his generation can be.
0 kommentar(er)
