Shawn Mendes’ New Album and Documentary: A Hit and a Miss
By: Usha Sookai
Tags: Shawn Mendes, Entertainment, Album Review, Wonder, Music

Shawn Mendes’ New Album and Documentary: A Hit and a Miss

Graphic by author.

On his new album, Wonder, Shawn Mendes tells a cinematic, grandiose love story through songs that sound different from those of his last three albums. On the other hand, the documentary of the singer’s life, released around the same time, is a heartfelt watch for Mendes’ fans, but not quite exciting enough to capture a casual audience.

Released just weeks before his most recent LP, Shawn Mendes: In Wonder, directed by Grant Singer, added another artist documentary to Netflix’s collection. As a fan of Mendes, I couldn’t wait to see this film once I saw the trailer; getting to see inside one of your favorite artists’ life is every fan’s dream. I loved every second of it. This movie, at its core, is fan service. It doesn’t cater to the average viewer’s interest, but to those of fans who want to know more about Mendes’ personal life.

Given that framework, Singer does everything that he is supposed to do. In Wonder has everything that fans could ask for: clips from his 2019 world tour, teasers for songs on Mendes’ upcoming album, glimpses of Mendes’ personal life, from sweet moments with his little sister, Aaliyah, to joking around with his family and best friends from home, and the story of his romance with Camila Cabello. However, it lacks a serious conflict — something that other viewers might be left craving.

The climax of the film occurs when Mendes gets a sinus infection, loses his voice, and is forced to cancel a stadium show in Brazil. He becomes overwhelmed and laments disappointing fans. In one of the most emotional moments in the film, he cries while on FaceTime with his mom, barely able to speak.

The film is strongest when Mendes is vulnerable and acting like nobody’s watching, like when he walks over to his sister to give her a big hug as they stand in their high school’s field, when he runs up his parents’ driveway to greet his mom for the first time in three months, or when he sings with Camila Cabello in a bathroom before their 2019 MTV VMA’s performance.

The same is true for Wonder, which, by comparison, is much more interesting. He sounds best when he sings and plays from the heart. Some songs are stronger than others, but for an album with such an experimental sound, it’s only natural that a few tracks would fall short.

One of the high points of the album is the dreamy “24 Hours.” If there is any song that sounds like being in the heaven-like honeymoon phase of a relationship, this is it. Other highs include “Teach Me How To Love,” where synths and a funk-style production back fun, contagious, and dynamic vocals, “Dream,” where the layers of synths and harmonies transport the listener to a different world, and “Always Been You,” which boasts some of the best production and choruses on the entire album.

All of the songs sound like they were made to be played live. “Look Up at the Stars” is a dedication to the fans who keep coming back to the shows. The first verse echoes one of Mendes’ earliest songs, “Never Be Alone,” but after the first minute, the track transitions to a classic rock sound that pulls from sonic influences of the 1960s.

“Call My Friends” is a very different song in comparison, but it brings balance to the positive, puppy love tone of the rest of the album. The songwriting and production channel the angst that any young adult would feel after missing out on youth for so long. “Piece of You” is similar, showing the darker side of love, infested with jealousy and frustration.

One of the weaker songs on the album, “Higher,” falls lyrically short. Some would say that “Can’t Imagine” does as well, but it sounds like more of an outro, a final testament to the importance of Mendes’ love, than a whole song. It’s also the only song on the album that sounds like his older work–acoustic, simple, and stripped down.

Mendes’ two lead singles, “Wonder” and “Monster” (with Justin Bieber) both hold their own as two of the best songs from the album, lyrically and production-wise. “Monster” doesn’t fit in with the soundscape of the rest of the album in a lot of ways, but it’s still a strong track on its own.

Overall, Wonder is a more experimental and interesting album than anything Mendes has released before, and it shatters the stereotype that all of his songs sound the same. The documentary may be less compelling for non-Mendes fans, but the album more than makes up for it. Mendes encompasses such diverse sounds and messages in his fourth LP that it has something for everyone.