Shawn Mendes uncovered E-Book

Nadine Taylor

• Herausgeber: Riva
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 72

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Shawn Mendes lies on the wooden floor in a lonely hut deep in the forest, completely isolated from the outside world. In the background the sound of a piano. His eyes are closed, his hands are holding a notebook, he is singing softly to himself – Shawn is texting the songs for his second album. Together with seven other musicians, he moved to an isolated space. In this relaxed atmosphere, his biggest hits come to life: "There's Nothing Holdin 'Me Back" and "Treat You Better." Shawn Mendes did not just storm the charts with his music, he did also conquer the hearts of his fans worldwide. This book brings you up close to the singer with many stories, insider information and pictures.

Leseprobe

Nadine Taylor

SHAWN MENDES

uncovered

Nadine Taylor

SHAWN MENDES

uncovered

Bibliographical information from the German National Library:

The German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) has recorded this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie [electronic resource]. Detailed bibliographical information can be found online at http://d-nb.de.

For questions or suggestions:

[email protected]

1st edition 2019

© 2019 by riva Verlag, ein Imprint der Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH

Nymphenburger Straße 86

D-80636 München

Tel.: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Published in Germany in 2018 by riva Verlag, an imprint of Münchner Verlagsgruppe GmbH, Munich, Germany, as Shawn Mendes ganz nah by Nadine Taylor.

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved, especially the right to reproduction, circulation and translation. No part of the work may be reproduced or stored, processed, copied or circulated electronically in any form (photocopy, microfilm or other method) without the publisher’s written consent.

Translation: Nadine Taylor

Edited by: Kevin Thompson

Cover Design: Manuela Amode

Cover image: shutterstock/Stillfx, gettyimages/Karwai Tang

Typesetting: Andreas Linnemann, Munich

eBook: ePubMATIC.com

ISBN Print: 978-3-7423-1006-4

ISBN E-Book (PDF): 978-3-7453-0643-9

ISBN E-Book (EPUB, Mobi): 978-3-7453-0644-6

For more information on the publisher, visit

www.rivaverlag.de

Please also read about our other publishing houses at www.m-vg.de

TABLE OF CONTENT

PREFACE

SHAWN MENDES

The Boy Next Door

10 Facts about Shawn

FROM A CHILD’S ROOM TO THE STAGES OF THE WORLD

How everything started

The record contract

The first EP

“Life of the Party”

“HANDWRITTEN”

The first album

“ILLUMINATE”

The making-of the second album

The songs of “Illuminate”

The music video for “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back”

PEOPLE OF “ILLUMINATE”

Music that affects many people’s life

ILLUMINATE WORLD TOUR 2017

Every concert is something special

The Meet & Greet – When dreams come true

The legendary Question-&- Answer-Rounds

The concert – There is magic everywhere

The Second Stage – Under the moon

There is no place like home

SHAWN’S TATTOOS

The tattoos and their meanings

WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING …

Shawn Mendes – The album and two Grammy nominations

ATTACHMENT

PREFACE

I first heard about Shawn Mendes in the middle of 2014. I had been travelling through New Zealand, and was working at a dairy farm on the South Island. During our working days, we listened to the radio a lot and Shawn’s first single, “Life of the Party” was a real hit at the time. This song came to represent the wonderful memories I have of a great time spent abroad. Back in Germany however, I forgot about him very quickly. As time passed, I started to hear some of his new songs like “Mercy”, “Stitches” and “Treat You Better” and my opinion was, initially, that his album “Handwritten” would not really be for me. After I moved to Munich at the end of 2016, I saw a poster advertising Mendes’s Illuminate World Tour and, given my enthusiasm for ‘Life of the Party’, coupled with happy memories of New Zealand, I naturally considered going to the concert. I quickly found out, however, that he had by this time built a huge fan base, and that every show was completely sold out. Luckily, a notification on Facebook caught my attention; someone was selling a “front row” ticket! The person selling it was currently in New York, could not use it for himself and was keen to sell it at the original price. I drove to meet his sister, who lived a little outside of Munich, to get the ticket. Everything went well and, on inspecting the ticket, I was pleasantly shocked. It really was a front row ticket. Moreover, the ticket was for seat 25, in the middle, and as close to the stage as anyone could get! The night before the concert, I had a strange dream: I met Shawn Mendes outside the venue and found out what a nice, likeable guy he was. The confusing thing about this dream was that, in the waking world, I didn’t even know what he looked like! When I woke up at six in the morning to go to work, I had a message on my phone: “Hey, do you want to meet Shawn Mendes today?” It was from the person who sold me the ticket. Never in my life have a dream and reality seemed closer to each other than in this precise moment. The guy told me that he had a VIP Gold Card left and was thinking about giving it to me, because he couldn’t be there anyway. Such tickets are always personalized and not transferable. The only way for me to get in would be through authorization from the seller. However, there was one problem: because of the time difference between New York and Munich, the guy was sleeping and I couldn’t reach him. At work I waited the whole day, very nervous because the Meet & Greet was meant to start at 4 pm, and eventually, at 3.05 pm I finally received a message with the authorization. I left everything behind at my desk, jumped onto the subway and when I arrived at the venue, I ran as fast as I could to get through the Olympiapark, which is huge! Virtually out of breath, I arrived at the concert hall 20 minutes before it was supposed to start and all I could see were closed doors. There was no one around at all. I ran around the hall hysterically, desperately trying to find the right entrance and avoid missing my opportunity to meet a big pop star. Finally I found an open door, but there was an intimidating woman from the security team who would not let me in because I needed a copy of the passport of the person who had given me the authorization. It was minutes before four and of course, the person was unreachable. In the hallway were about 50 young girls who were looking at me as if I was from a different planet. Of course, after running through the Olympiapark for ages, I must have looked like I was close to a nervous breakdown. I was starting to think that this was a failure, but just as I was finally admitting to myself that I wasn’t going to get in, the security woman showed me some mercy and gave me a VIP card. Another security man picked me up and we joined a small queue of girls waiting in front of a curtain. I was sweaty, my hair was a mess and I was wiped out. Behind the curtain I heard some heavy crying. The security guard pointed to me, said “Next”, and I realized that I was about to meet a huge superstar. He opened a small gap in the curtain and I was able to pass through. There he was, right in front of me: Shawn Mendes. Real and six feet two inches tall, with the most wonderful smile, brown curls and bright eyes. He definitely had a special aura. I was impressed. He asked with a big smile: “How are you?”. Nearly speechless, all I could say was “I’m fine.”. He gave me a hug and we smiled into the camera for a picture. The moment only lasted a few seconds. Once I left the area, I remembered how amazing he smelled and how comfortable he seemed when close to his fans. I don’t know whether it was Shawn’s stardom that I was overwhelmed by in this moment, or his special charisma, but I do know that this short encounter pulled the ground away from under my feet. There are just a few moments in your life that touch your soul like this and change your life forever, and this was definitely my moment. The idea for this book came to me a month after the concert, by which time Mendes had released his first perfume spearheaded by a huge worldwide advertising campaign. I noticed that my local perfume shop had a life-sized cutout of him. I wanted that cutout so I asked in the store, and when they didn’t need it any more, they let me take it. I carried the huge thing across the city, back to my apartment. Just for fun, I took a picture of my new roommate with it and put it on Instagram. The next morning I saw that the picture had more than 8000 likes, which was insanely high for one of my posts. I told my mum about it and mentioned that I would like to write a book about him, because there was so much to tell. She replied simply, “Do it”. After a few days of trying, I convinced a publisher and was able to start the project. Alongside my full time job, I was able to write the whole book in about three months. I was in contact with fans all over the world, day and night, and I investigated everything about him and collected many fan pictures. The result holds for me a memory of an amazing time, and I hope that it can also make a few fans out there happy.

Nadine

Shawn Mendes and me in London in November 2017