I won’t lie to you– I almost forgot that Shawn Mendes still made music. Don’t get me wrong, his debut album “Handwritten” is one of my guilty pleasures, and I simply cannot forget seeing his Vines when I was 10 years old. However, his main occupation has almost always been a musician, and as I mentioned previously, I grew up not only seeing his social media presence but also watching him champion Disney Channel’s “Next Big Thing” music competition, which effectively launched his career.

His presence as a musician has still almost never made a massive imprint on the industry, but in fairness, that is a large favor to ask of a young boy that likely entered the world of commercial music with a solid gold dream of simply writing songs on his guitar and sharing his creations with the world. This pure heart entrance into the industry became his marketing gimmick, likely a result of Disney’s expert grip on pop culture; however, as his first two albums passed with success and recognition from young teenage girls and boys, his heart-of-gold image began to shape into that of a young and cheeky star on the rise with a relatable upbringing (another attempt at marketing his essence, though Disney began to slip out of the picture as soon as his shtick warped from ‘young and adorable’ to ‘young and attractive’).

Soon, his physical appearance became the attractor and not his humble songwriter sound. The more he jumped into the competitive subcategory of seemingly genuine and attractive pop stars of the time (think the Vamps or early-2000’s Justin Bieber), he began to experiment with more electronic and professional production– which was what everyone was doing. Thus, his third album drifted out to the generic beat sea, not particularly offending anyone but simultaneously not blowing listeners away. Memorable success tends to stem from extreme response: the electronic music band 100 Gecs, for example, has a polarizing sound that sparked opinion and therefore launched them into relevancy among young consumers. Though their music is certainly not for everyone, people enjoy maintaining their opinions– good or bad.

His neutral album was just that in terms of success– I’m sure he sold out stadiums and made millions, but when asked if she could name a song from that album (further neutrally named “Shawn Mendes”), Charlotte Jordan ‘23 shivered slightly and said, “Is that the one with ‘Senorita’?”

Despite this unoriginal downfall into inoffensive irrelavancy, I’ve always harbored somewhat of a soft spot for Shawn Mendes; in fact, I often find myself rooting for him to bounce back. Maybe it’s his strangely consistent presence throughout my childhood, like when he wrote the credits song for the first “Descendants” movie. Maybe it’s his face on the covers of all of the secondhand J-14 magazine covers I got from my older sisters. I couldn’t place it, but whenever he releases new music, I have hope that it’ll either blow me away or make me never listen to him again.

For once, however, he recently took a step in the right direction. His latest album, “Wonder,” made me feel justified in having hope that he really is making like kinetic energy and spending some of his potential on his music. This album contains remnants of that happy-go-lucky songwriter he debuted as once upon a time, though it feels like he finally took control of his opportunity to include professional production and combined his conflicting musical instincts to make a cohesive collection of songs all united by the familiar feeling of beginning to understand that you’ve changed without noticing– appropriate for an artist beginning to regain his balance on the music industry’s wobbling canoe.

Though the main vibe of the album is beginning to accept this newly developed and older version of yourself and acknowledging the consequences of passing time, it features songs like “Call My Friends” and “Song For No One” that depict the melancholy realizations of young adulthood in which independence becomes a burden rather than a reward. Many of the tracks describe finding solace in a person that understands that change is instrumental in achieving true independence as adulthood approaches, though still seeing through the facade of inherent understanding that seems to shadow the shocking isolation within becoming an adult.

While his vocals and production are not totally life-changing, there’s a je ne sais quoi that tags along with the backing tracks and vocal performance– it feels like he takes pride in every song. Even the songs that I don’t really love make me smile a little knowing that he’s finally beginning to understand the importance of originality; no longer is he carried by the heart-of-gold gimmick, and his pop star shtick has been long forgotten. Instead, he’s used his relative irrelevancy to produce what he believes to be good work that isn’t supported by a marketing tactic surrounded by carefully placed personality traits– now that he has nothing to lose, he’s begun to see that there’s certainly beauty to be found in isolation. Biology continues to dictate that life can spawn from the most sterile of origins, and I’m sure Shawn’s re-entrance into the world of pop was not inspired by a principle of biology as he never attended college.

While I’m hesitant to name him a comeback kid, I’m certainly interested to watch the possibility of a young performer that I’ve watched since I was eight finally find his individuality among an industry demanding of new talent every day. This album has made me wonder what he’ll release next, and in my opinion, that’s success if I’ve seen it.