Following the release of his new single If I Can’t Have You, Shawn Mendes FaceTimed with Zane Lowe of Beats 1 on Apple Music and during their weekly segment, Best of the Week, Shawn dishes on his new single and even chats about his upcoming [then] performance on SNL.
Shawn says his news song is “a confident pop record and it’s clearly that for me.” Shawn explains, “I’m going through this phase right now where I’m testing out all the styles I can possibly be doing. Pop is what’s in my blood — no pun intended. In the last six months I wrote about 45 songs and they’re all over the place and different vibes. This is the one consistently every time I played for myself and for friends and family was giving people that smile.”
Shawn also revealed If I Can’t Have You was originally written for Dua Lipa, “I was back in the studio with Teddy Geiger and Nate [Mercreau] and I was playing it on piano and I was like oh my god this would be really cool for Dua Lipa. It was on guitar and I turned it to piano it was right after One Kiss came out. In the voice note – I’m speaking like I’m gonna send to Dua I’m like, ‘Okay, Dua, I have this song I have just a chorus we can finish it if you want.’” It was after he played the song once more on the piano that he realized he wanted the song for himself.
Listen to the FULL interview with Shawn and Zane below.
Prior to his SNL performance, Shawn briefly spoke about his experience with acting, “I think I’m in a skit, I have no idea what it is but I just got a wig fitted. “[Acting] is the biggest you-have-to-own it thing. As I’m starting to realize I can own this singing thing I think I’ll fall into acting and stuff more, 100%.” Shawn performed last night on SNL and the episode was hosted by Adam Sandler. Check out Shawn’s performance of ‘If I Can’t Have You’ below.
Below is a video of Shawn talking to Zane Lowe about acting on SNL. Shawn says, “As I’m starting to realize I can own this singing thing, I think I’ll fall into acting and stuff more.”
Here’s Shawn talking about If I Can’t Have You.