Shawn Mendes has been out of the spotlight lately, but he returned to Instagram on January 2 with a thoughtful post about how he’s been learning that not everything he does needs to be perfect.
The Canadian artist posted a black-and-white video of him wordlessly crooning while playing a harmonium, a keyboard instrument that’s also known as a pump organ or a reed organ. In the caption, he wrote, “over the last year i spent a lot of time singing like this … I found that in moments of extreme anxiety or fear if i sat down with my harmonium and allowed myself with full trust to sing whatever came out it would often ease the pain.”
He continued, “it felt so difficult at first to let myself sing without needing perfection but after a while i actually started to fall in love with the dance between the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ notes … i realized there were only moments of bliss and euphoria from the ‘right’ notes BECAUSE of the ‘wrong’ notes.”
“The only reason i can sing in key is because i’ve learned to listen,” Shawn noted. “The biggest lesson for me this year has been to accept and welcome the lows of life… not to constantly need to change or fix something in order to feel high again, because i know if i really slow down and listen when i’m low there’s always something to hear.”
Shawn’s good friend John Mayer was first in the comments, leaving him a series of hearts.
In 2023, Shawn released the collaborative single “Witness Me,” which teamed him with Jacob Collier, gospel star Kirk Franklin and British rapper Stormzy. His most recent album is 2020’s Wonder.
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