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Shawn Mendes circumvented traditional routes to a recording contract by posting short clips of himself singing other people's songs on the video-sharing service Vine. These were no more than a few seconds -- Vine's restrictions set the limit at six seconds, which is hardly enough time to cover a chorus -- but it was enough to set some teenage hearts aflutter, which led to a contract with Island, which led to an EP in 2014, which led to the full-length debut Handwritten in 2015. That was a two-year march to an album, which should've been enough time for Mendes to learn how to engage a listener for at least 60 seconds, but Handwritten is pretty thin gruel. Some of this is down to material, songs that feel like a laboratory-generated fusion of Jason Mraz's singsong loverman schtick and Ryan Tedder's icy adult contemporary. Although he has songwriting credits on two-thirds of Handwritten, he can't be blamed for the rinky-dink tunes: his producers could've sharpened the hooks so they all stuck like those on "Stitches" and "Kid in Love." What he can be blamed for is the fact that he can't hold the audience's attention for any longer than on Vine, relying on his puppy-dog eyes and croon to get him through a song. Cute he may be, but he has charisma that lasts no longer than a GIF, as Handwritten makes painfully clear.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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TONY MASERATI, MixingEngineer - Ido Zmishlany, Producer, Guitar, Piano, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist, RecordingEngineer, ProgrammingEngineer, Keyboard, DrumKit, AdditionalVocalist, BassVocalist - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist, AdditionalVocalist - Tyler Scott, MixingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, BackgroundVocalist - Allison Zmishlany, AdditionalVocalist
℗ 2014 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Teddy Geiger, Producer, ComposerLyricist, RecordingEngineer - TONY MASERATI, MixingEngineer - Danny Parker, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Daylight, Producer - Daniel Kyriakides, ComposerLyricist, RecordingEngineer - Mike Gaydusek, Engineer - Tyler Scott, MixingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, MainArtist
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Glen Scott, Piano, ComposerLyricist - Ruadhri Cushnan, MixingEngineer - Martin Terefe, Producer, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist, AcousticGuitar - DAVID DAVIDSON, Violin, StringArranger - David Angell, Violin - Anthony LaMarchina, Cello - Kristoffer Sonne, DrumKit - Baeho "Bobby" Shin, RecordingEngineer - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist - George Seara, RecordingEngineer - Elizabeth Lamb, Viola - Sam Keyte, RecordingEngineer - Luke Leveille, RecordingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Kristian Larsen, RecordingSecondEngineer - Geoffrey Warburton, BackgroundVocalist - Sam Harper, MixingSecondEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Ido Zmishlany, ComposerLyricist - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist - Zubin Thakkar, Guitar, BackgroundVocalist - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Max River, BackgroundVocalist, Keyboard - Peter A. Barker, MixingEngineer - Mike Sleath, DrumKit - Dave Haskett, BassGuitar
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Martin Terefe, ComposerLyricist - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist - Zubin Thakkar, Guitar, BackgroundVocalist - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Geoffrey Warburton, ComposerLyricist - Max River, BackgroundVocalist, Keyboard - Peter A. Barker, MixingEngineer - Mike Sleath, DrumKit - Dave Haskett, BassGuitar
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Tony Kadleck, Trumpet - Andy Snitzer, Saxophone - Michael Davis, Trombone - TONY MASERATI, MixingEngineer - Ido Zmishlany, Producer, Guitar, Piano, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist, RecordingEngineer, ProgrammingEngineer, Keyboard, DrumKit, AdditionalVocalist, BassVocalist - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist, AdditionalVocalist - George Seara, Engineer - Tyler Scott, MixingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist
℗ 2014 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist - Emily Warren, ComposerLyricist - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Peter A. Barker, MixingEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist - Emily Warren, ComposerLyricist - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Peter A. Barker, MixingEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Scott Harris, Producer, ComposerLyricist - George Seara, Engineer, MixingEngineer - Emily Warren, ComposerLyricist - Luke Leveille, RecordingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, MainArtist - Astrid S, FeaturedArtist - Craven J, Producer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Martin Terefe, ComposerLyricist - George Seara, Engineer, MixingEngineer - Luke Leveille, RecordingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Geoffrey Warburton, Producer, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Peter A. Barker, MixingEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Glen Scott, Piano - Ruadhri Cushnan, MixingEngineer - Martin Terefe, Producer, Piano, Mellotron, ComposerLyricist, AcousticGuitar - Ido Zmishlany, ComposerLyricist - Scott Harris, ComposerLyricist - George Seara, Engineer, RecordingEngineer - Sam Keyte, RecordingEngineer - Luke Leveille, RecordingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Kristian Larsen, RecordingSecondEngineer - Geoffrey Warburton, ComposerLyricist - Sam Harper, MixingSecondEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bill Withers, ComposerLyricist - TONY MASERATI, MixingEngineer - Ido Zmishlany, ComposerLyricist, CoProducer - Noel Zancanella, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Tyler Scott, MixingSecondEngineer - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist - Camila Cabello, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Kristin Wilkinson, Viola - Tim Lauer, StringArranger - Espen Berg, MixingEngineer - DAVID DAVIDSON, Violin - David Angell, Violin - Carole Rabinowitz, Cello - Eric Darken, Percussion, ProgrammingEngineer - Jacquire King, Producer, ProgrammingEngineer - George Seara, Engineer - Shawn Mendes, Guitar, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist - Geoffrey Warburton, ComposerLyricist - Spencer Thomson, Guitar
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Espen Berg, MixingEngineer - George Seara, Engineer - JORDAN ORVOSH, Producer, Guitar, Percussion - Shawn Mendes, Piano, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Kristin Wilkinson, Viola - Tim Lauer, StringArranger - Espen Berg, MixingEngineer - DAVID DAVIDSON, Violin - David Angell, Violin - Carole Rabinowitz, Cello - Eric Darken, Percussion, ProgrammingEngineer - Ian Fitchuk, DrumKit - Jacquire King, Producer, ProgrammingEngineer - Eli Beaird, BassGuitar - Shawn Mendes, Vocalist, MainArtist, ComposerLyricist, BackgroundVocalist - Geoffrey Warburton, ComposerLyricist - Spencer Thomson, Guitar - Wes Bailey, Keyboard - Max River, Engineer, Piano, ComposerLyricist - Gabe Gallucci, RecordingSecondEngineer
℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
Shawn Mendes circumvented traditional routes to a recording contract by posting short clips of himself singing other people's songs on the video-sharing service Vine. These were no more than a few seconds -- Vine's restrictions set the limit at six seconds, which is hardly enough time to cover a chorus -- but it was enough to set some teenage hearts aflutter, which led to a contract with Island, which led to an EP in 2014, which led to the full-length debut Handwritten in 2015. That was a two-year march to an album, which should've been enough time for Mendes to learn how to engage a listener for at least 60 seconds, but Handwritten is pretty thin gruel. Some of this is down to material, songs that feel like a laboratory-generated fusion of Jason Mraz's singsong loverman schtick and Ryan Tedder's icy adult contemporary. Although he has songwriting credits on two-thirds of Handwritten, he can't be blamed for the rinky-dink tunes: his producers could've sharpened the hooks so they all stuck like those on "Stitches" and "Kid in Love." What he can be blamed for is the fact that he can't hold the audience's attention for any longer than on Vine, relying on his puppy-dog eyes and croon to get him through a song. Cute he may be, but he has charisma that lasts no longer than a GIF, as Handwritten makes painfully clear.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 16 track(s)
- Total length: 00:56:32
- Main artists: Shawn Mendes
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Island Records
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. ℗ 2015 Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
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