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Shawn Mendes’ vocal range is from F2 to A5. He is a tenor, and he can sing A5 in his falsetto, which reveals his fully developed head voice. Mendes’ voice range, of course, is difficult to classify because it is still developing. Moreover, he tends to push his voice to amplify it.
He also does not show more often his voice timbre. Yet, in my assessment, he belongs to the tenor. However, his voice seems to be getting lower, or it may be because his vocal health appears to be deteriorating.
In his rendition of the song Treat You Better, his voice seems to jump an octave when he reaches the main part. Yet, upon closer scrutiny, it doesn’t appear that he made an octave leap. However, he got that style, and he seems to take care of his voice well.
Shawn Mendes Singing Career and Vocal Range
Do you know the voice range of Shawn Mendes? If your answer is, I got no idea, then you are not alone. I also did not know his vocal range until I listened to his music video the other day, and I think he is a tenor. Shawn Mendes, of course, is one of the high achieving youngsters in the music industry at present, and at the young age of 22, he has already achieved much in the field of music.
A Canadian singer and songwriter, his complete name is Shawn Peter Raul Mendes. He was born on August 8, 1998, and he first became an online sensation before he recorded his first album. Moreover, he first gained an online following in 2013 when he posted song covers on Vine, a video-sharing application.
Getting a Recording Deal
A year after, Andrew Gertler, an artist manager, noticed him and asked him to sign a recording deal. Soon after, he released three studio albums and even headlined 3 world tours. He also received awards afterward.
Mendes released his debut EP in 2014. Soon after, he also released his studio album Handwritten in 2015. The single Stitches soon landed in number 1 in the UK and entered the US’s top 10. Afterward, in 2016, he released his next album, Illuminate. Two of its singles reached the top 10 in many countries.
Then, he followed it up, in 2018, with his third album, which also debuted at number one. This album included Mendes among the only five artists who got three albums debuting at number one. He is also the third-youngest artist who achieved three number one albums before turning 18. He also received many accolades at a very young age before turning 20.
So, what makes Mendes so successful as an artist at a very young age? Is it his looks, luck, or voice that makes him click? Well, I think it is his voice that opened up big breaks for him.
Mendes’ Musical Influences and Artistry
Mendes seems to show his penchant for folk and pop genres. He once said that his primary influences include Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Bruno Mars, and Ed Sheeran. Yet, according to him too, when he was growing up, he got acquainted with Led Zeppelin, Garth Brooks, Reggae music, and country music. Bruno Mars vocal type is also bit similar to Mendes.
Moreover, he indicated that Mayer’s work greatly influenced his second album. However, his third album had Kings of Leon, Timberlake, Kanye West, and Daniel Caesar as influences.
Mendes infuses acoustic folk and pop tunes into his songs. He also brings in a soulful pop-rock influence into his songs that significantly plays for teenagers and tweens.
How Does His Voice Evolve?
Mendes started young, and he is barely a teenager when he first cracked into the music scene. As expected, his voice would undergo the usual transition from puberty to adulthood. When asked about voice cracks, he remarked that he is quite obsessed with falsetto. He also playfully added that puberty is a weird period of life, marked by transitions.
Fans saw him at the onset of his puberty and followed him halfway through that stage. Now, he is a grownup man with a more mature voice. Moreover, it is understandable that Mendes had undergone such vocal struggles, and so, fans could expect more vocal evolution from him.
The Onset of Mendes Singing Career
At the age of 14, Mendes learned how to play guitar via YouTube tutorial videos. After a year, he started posting online cover videos on YouTube. Mendes’ posts attracted viewers, especially when he posted a cover of Justin Bieber’s “As Long as You Love Me” on Vine, a social app in 2013. He got around 10,000 likes for that post at the start. Within a few months, he already gained a million followers. The six-second snippets of his renditions of some popular songs became well known internationally.
Not long after, he became the third most-followed artist on Vine in 2014. Andrew Gertler, an artist manager, soon discovered him. Then, he introduced Mendes to Island Records in January of 2014. Prior to signing with Island, Mendes won The Best Cover Song award of Ryan Seacrest with his rendition of Say Something. Then, he signed officially with Island in May of that year.
On June 26, 2014, he released his EP Life of the Party. This song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at the top 25. He also toured as a Magcon Tour member alongside other Viners with many fans on that platform.
Moreover, Mendes went on a nationwide tour along with Austin Mahone. His major-label EP debuted in July and peaked at Billboard 200’s number five. It sold around 48,000 copies in its first week. He was also accorded in 2014 a Teen choice award for Webstar in Music.
Oh Cecilia was released on September 5, 2014, and was released as Vamp’s fifth single. Then, Something Big, on November 6, 2014, was released. Mendes also released his Handwritten album, and it debuted at Billboard 200 chart’s number one. It sold around 106,000 copies in its initial week. Mendes became the youngest singer with this album to debut at number one since Justin Bieber released his My World 2.0 album.
His Stitches peaked at no. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This song also became his first top ten single in the United States. It also reached the UK’s number one. Moreover, Mendes also opened for Taylor Swift in 2015.
Together with Camila Cabello, he released in 2015 their collaborative single, entitled I Know What You Did Last Summer. Moreover, on Mendes’s Handwritten Revisited reissue, the abovementioned song was also included.
In 2014, Mendes was listed among the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014 of Time Magazine after becoming the youngest artist to debut in Billboard Hot 100’s top 25. Time Magazine also included Mendes in its “30 Most Influential Teens of 2015.” There is no doubt that Mendes will continue to hit it big in the music scene worldwide.
You can get more information by reading Become Singer’s Justine Bieber Vocal Analysys.
Conclusion
The gigs and schedules of Shawn Mendes, of course, are very demanding, and as someone who has just come out of puberty, it is but expected that his voice would manifest those cracks typical of someone who is transitioning from puberty to adolescence. He was honest with his struggle by saying that his voice is undergoing the second stage of puberty. In fact, he jokingly quipped that he can’t control his falsetto. Well, his voice will continue to change as he matures. But one undeniable thing is that he is now one of the most successful artists of this decade.
