At 19 years old, most young adults are working or going to college to achieve their dreams. At 19 years old, most young adults would have not thought about making it big in the real world. Well, Shawn Mendes, age of 19, has released 3 albums and is just getting started with his success. On September 23, 2016, Mendes released his 3rd album called Illuminate. It is a pop album produced by the record label Island Records. Overall the album is one of the most amazing albums of the 2010s. Illuminate is an album that has a mix of love songs and problems in our society. It is an album that will leave you crying and there are many great songs for you and your significant other.

The first song is the “Ruin.” “Ruin” was the first promotional song to be released, and it was released on July 8, 2016. The song showcases Mendes’s vocals and uses simple instruments which makes the song very melodic and beautiful. “Ruin” is a song that you can use to get your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend back. The song is about a girl who is happy in her new relationship, but her ex-boyfriend wants her back. Once again, this is the song that you should play when you get back when you and your ex gets together.

The second song on the album is the song is a bit more popular: “Mercy.” “Mercy” is a song where a guy is asking a girl for forgiveness because the guy can’t seem to let go of her. In general, the word mercy means to asking someone for forgiveness, and in the song the guy asks the girl to let him be free and apologize for treating him so badly.

“Treat You Better” is the third song released  that probably a lot of women can relate to, and that is domestic violence. Domestic violence is something that needs to be talked about and this is what the song is trying to get across. The girl in the song is getting abused by her lover and Mendes is trying to the girl’s boyfriend to stop. He can’t and that’s why Shawn says in the song “I know I can treat you better than he can.”  Basically Mendes is trying to tell the girl to stop going back to her lover because he will protect and save her from her abusive relationship. At the end of the music video for “Treat You Better,” there is a hotline for domestic violence. Mendes is trying to say that domestic violence is something that should not be taken lightly and instead if you know someone or you are getting abused call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or visit them on their website http://www.thehotline.org/

“Three Empty Words’’is the fourth song also released around the same time as “Treat You Better.” The song is talking about how Mendes’s former relationship was tearing apart because of some catastrophe. In the song, they are trying to fall in love again, but they can’t because they don’t have a strong connection they had when they first fell in love.

Get your boyfriend or girlfriend and just listen to “Don’t Be A Fool” because everyone has a crazy boyfriend that sometimes act like a jerk and the song is saying “stop making a fool of yourself” because I know that there are many boys who act like fools when they are around their girlfriend and it’s annoying to see boys who act like that around a girl .

We all want a boyfriend or a girlfriend that meets our standards. Girls often say that “I want to have a boyfriend like this” or a guy might say “I want a girl like this.” The song “Like This” is the epitome of those statements. “Like This,” which is the sixth song, talks about how Mendes has feelings for a girl, but the girl has no feelings for him and he can’t stop thinking about her.

Everyone wants a fun, crazy, loving boyfriend or girlfriend who they can hang out with and not worry. “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” which is the seventh song is unlike any other song that is on the album so far. In “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back,” Mendes is happy because he and his girl are having a fun relationship although there are problems. The song is telling us that every relationship has problems in it no matter how much you are having fun.

Keeping promises is one of the hardest things in any kind of relationship. Keeping a promise in this case means that you should not tell the person who your friend likes. “No Promises” is a song that will probably make you think of all the promises that you have ever made and how you fulfilled those promises.

Personally, my favorite songs are “Treat You Better” and “Mercy” because they are one of a kind. “Treat You Better” is an important song because although I don’t know a victim of domestic abuse, the message and the number shown in the music video could come handy in the future. My other favorite song is “Mercy” because I think this song as a spiritual song. As someone who grew up in a household surrounded by religion, this song is asking for forgiveness from something which is what we are supposed to do in Islam, the religion I follow. Although most people think this is a love song, whenever I listen to “Mercy,” it reminds me to ask forgiveness

“Illuminate” is such a great album because it showcases Shawn Mendes’s abilities as a young artist and fans can look up to him as a role model.