NEWSShawn Mendes Was 'Disgusted' By Idea Of Fame, Misses Smoking With Friends
Honesty hour. Shawn Mendes got extremely candid about his thoughts on fame, his relationship with girlfriend Camila Cabello and more in his new Netflix documentary, In Wonder.
In the documentary, the 22-year-old's younger sister, Aaliyah, revealed her extremely famous brother's previous thoughts on a life in the spotlight. "I asked him if he wanted to be famous one day, and he shut the whole idea down so fast. He was like, 'No, I don't want to be famous. It seems awful,'" she dished. "He was disgusted by the idea."
While the "Monster" crooner said he's "so grateful" for the ability to perform all over the world — explaining he's "never had more fun in my life" — Mendes confessed: "at the same time, I just want to hang with my parents and watch movies, drive around a suburb and lay on a soccer field and, you know, smoke a joint and stare at stars with my friends and, eat some beef jerky. … I miss that right now. It's pretty intense all the time."
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Mendes explained the pop star life comes with the overwhelming pressure of always having to be on your A-game. "I'm constantly warming up," the "Wonder" singer noted. "I'm constantly checking my voice out of fear of the fact that one day I'm gonna go to sing and it’s gonna just not come out."
Despite some uphill battles, there seem to be some benefits with fame, as it's led Mendes to meet girlfriend Cabello. The handsome hunk even credited the 23-year-old for his musical success over the years — and revealed he's written every one of his songs about the Fifth Harmony alum.
When one of Mendes' songs came on while the couple was traveling in New York, he told Cabello: "Yeah, it's about you. Everything is about you. They've always been about you," he recalled saying. After the "Havana" singer expressed her confusion, Mendes clarified: "They're all about you. Every song I've ever wrote. And she's like, 'Oh, my God.' She literally had no idea. This whole time I thought she knew."
He also dished about the first time the lovebirds met as well as the moment the couple's friendship turned into a romance in 2019. Mendes and Cabello first linked up during Austin Mahone's 2014 tour and instantly became close friends. "She was always there to look out for me as a human being," Mendes gushed in the film. "She's got my back, and I think that’s what your partner is for."
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The 83-minute documentary — which premiered on Monday, November 23 — followed the Grammy nominee as he traveled around the world for his 2019 tour. While filming behind-the-scenes footage of his tour, Mendes reflected on his journey to stardom by sharing never-before-seen videos and memories from his childhood.
"This isn't a story about a famous musician," Mendes emoted in a serious tone. "This is about a guy growing up … If I tell the world that I’m just a normal human, are they going to stop coming to the shows?"
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Director Grant Singer focused on capturing the real honest moments of the young man who was thrown into the life of fame and fortune. "We build up pop stars to be superhuman beings, but one of the things this film does is — they're just like us," he said. "They have fears, insecurities, desires as we all do. This film focuses more on Shawn as a person and less on Shawn as the mythology of him as an artist, and I think that’s what I like about it."
The Netflix debut comes just weeks prior to Mendes' fourth album release of Wonder, which is set to drop on December 4.
