Producing three albums within the past five years, along with his fourth album being released this December, Shawn Mendes has become a world-renowned pop musician. The 22-year-old from Canada started his career by uploading short videos and song covers on the social media platforms Vine and YouTube. In 2015, Shawn Mendes released his first album titled Handwritten, followed by his album Illuminate two years later. His most recent, self-titled album was then released in 2018. This month, I will take a look at both his second album Illuminate, and his most recent album, Shawn Mendes, to see which album is better.

Shawn Mendes’ second album, Illuminate, contains 13 songs and is around 45 minutes long. Some of the more popular songs on this album include “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” and “Treat You Better,” each with over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. Personally, my favorite songs from this album are “Ruin,” “Honest,” and “Roses.” Similar to Shawn Mendes’ first album, Handwritten, I think Illuminate is underrated.  I’ve formed this opinion because Shawn Mendes was very young when he recorded the album and even younger when he wrote the songs. In my opinion, this album has a slow vibe to it, and it is sort of a mix between a breakup and a love-song album. Songs such as “Mercy” and “Like This” resemble the breakup aspect of the album, whereas “Three Empty Words” and “Lights On” talk about loving someone and creating a strong relationship with them.

For his third album, Shawn Mendes decided to his album titled Shawn Mendes. The songs “In My Blood” and “Lost In Japan” are the ones you hear the most on the radio. My favorite songs from the self-titled album are “Fallin’ All In You,” “Why,” and “Nervous.” Unlike Illuminate, Shawn Mendes included two songs that featured other artists; Julia Michaels and Khalid. I think that the Shawn Mendes album has a jealous but also understanding mood. Songs like “When You’re Ready” and “Like To Be You” show that Shawn Mendes is willing to take time and be patient with your feelings. However, “Particular Taste” and “Queen” bring out the jealousy when attempting to start relationships. Honestly, I think you can really tell how Shawn Mendes developed and matured in his music between Illuminate and Shawn Mendes. 

So, which album by Shawn Mendes is better? I think that Shawn Mendes is by far better out of the two. Not only does it show his growth, but I think the songs are better overall. However, I think my opinion will change next month when Shawn Mendes releases his fourth album titled Wonder. Shawn Mendes has also recently released his new single, “Wonder,” and I highly recommend listening to it. I think I speak for all Shawn Mendes fans when I say that we are incredibly excited for a new era of Shawn Mendes.