Handwritten (Shawn Mendes album)

Handwritten
Studio album by Shawn Mendes
Released April 14, 2015
Recorded 2014–15
Genre
Length 39:32
Label Island
Producer
Shawn Mendes chronology

  • Handwritten
  • (2015)
Singles from Handwritten
  1. "Life of the Party"
    Released: June 25, 2014
  2. "Something Big"
    Released: November 7, 2014
  3. "Stitches"
    Released: May 5, 2015[1]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 58/100[2]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [3]
Billboard [4]
The Guardian [5]
Idolator [6]
Newsday B+[7]
NY Daily News [8]
Rolling Stone [9]
USA Today [10]

Handwritten is the debut album by Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, and was released on April 14, 2015 by Island. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 119,000 copies.[11]

Background

After signing a record deal with Island Records in June 2014, Mendes released his debut single "Life of the Party" which peaked at number twenty four on the US Billboard Hot 100.[12] Following the single release, an EP titled The Shawn Mendes EP was released on July 28, 2014, and sold 48,000 copies in its first week. Mendes announced its debut album title and artwork on January 27, 2015 and it was made available to pre-order on February 2, 2015.

Singles

"Life of the Party", was released as the lead single from Mendes debut EP The Shawn Mendes EP on June 25, 2014. The song serves as the first single from Handwritten as well. A one-shot lyric video for the song showing Mendes in the George Street diner premiered on Vevo on June 30, 2014. The official music video for the song premiered on March 10, 2015.

"Something Big" was released as the album's second single on November 7, 2014. The official music video for the song premiered on November 11, 2014 on Vevo, and it is Mendes' first official music video.

"Stitches" will be released as the album's third single on May 5, 2015.

Other songs

Before the album release, Mendes released five songs through pre-order on iTunes. The first song "A Little Too Much" was released on February 2, the same day the album pre-order started. A music video for the song premiered on the singer's Vevo on February 4. Mendes announced through Instagram that the second promotional song would be "Never Be Alone" and it was made available on February 16. An official music video for the song was released on February 25. On March 16 the singer released "Stitches", the third pre-order single, which official music video premiered on March 18. An acoustic version of "Life of the Party", featured in the deluxe version of the album, was released as the fourth pre-order single on March 30 at midnight, the same day as it was made possible to hear every song preview on iTunes.[13] "Kid in Love" was made available as the fifth and final pre-order track on April 6 at midnight,[14] just a week before the album release, while a music video for the acoustic version of "Life of the Party" was posted on Shawn Mendes' Vevo on April 10. "Aftertaste" also gained a music video, which was posted on April 17.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 on the week ending April 19, 2015 selling 119,000 copies (106,000 copies of traditional albums). He became the youngest artist since Justin Bieber to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart in nearly five years. Bieber was 16 years and 2 months old when his album My World 2.0 spent its fourth and final week at the top. Mendes was 16 years and 8 months old.[11] The album dropped to No. 17 with 20,000 units (down 83 percent) in its second week,[15] making it one of the biggest drops from number-one on the chart history.

In his native Canada, the album debuted at number one with first-week sales of 14,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[16]

Track listing

Handwritten – Standard edition[17]
No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "Life of the Party"  
  • Ido Zmishlany
  • Scott Harris
Zmishlany 3:31
2. "Stitches"  
  • Daylight
  • Geiger
  • Parker
 3:27
3. "Never Be Alone"  
Terefe 3:36
4. "Kid in Love"  
  • Mendes
  • Zmishlany
  • Harris
  • Zmishlany
  • Terefe
 3:46
5. "I Don't Even Know Your Name"  
  • Mendes
  • Harris
  • Terefe
  • Geoffrey Warburton
Terefe 3:00
6. "Something Big"  
  • Mendes
  • Zmishlany
  • Harris
Zmishlany 2:41
7. "Strings"  
  • Mendes
  • Harris
  • Emily Warren
 3:11
8. "Aftertaste"  
  • Mendes
  • Harris
  • Warren
  • Biancaniello
  • Watters
 2:50
9. "Air" (featuring Astrid S)
  • Harris
  • Warren
  • Craven J
  • Harris
 3:14
10. "Crazy"  
  • Mendes
  • Warburton
  • Terefe
  • Mendes
  • Terefe
 3:12
11. "A Little Too Much"  MendesZmishlany 3:07
12. "This Is What It Takes"  
  • Mendes
  • Warburton
  • Terefe
  • Zmishlany
  • Harris
Terefe 3:50
Total length:
 39:29

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[20] 18
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] 37
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 23
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] 46
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[24] 1
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[25] 24
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[26] 19
French Albums (SNEP)[27] 125
German Albums (Official Top 100)[28] 43
Irish Albums (IRMA)[29] 11
Italian Albums (FIMI)[30] 25
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[31] 18
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[32] 1
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[33] 5
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 13
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 2
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[36] 4
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[37] 26
UK Albums (OCC)[38] 12
US Billboard 200[39] 1

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United States[18] April 14, 2015
Island

References

  1. ↑ "Shawn Mendes - Stitches - Republic Playbook". Republic Records. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/music/handwritten/shawn-mendes
  3. ↑ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen (20 April 2015). "Handwritten - Shawn Mendes". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Carl (7 April 2015). "Album Review: Vine Star Shawn Mendes Keeps His Sound Grassroots on Debut 'Handwritten'". Billboard. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (9 April 2015). "Shawn Mendes: Handwritten review – Canadian teen star’s persuasive debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Lee, Christina (14 April 2015). "Shawn Mendes' ‘Handwritten’: Album Review". Idolator. Idolator. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  7. ↑ Gamboa, Glenn (13 April 2015). "'Handwritten' review: Take note of Shawn Mendes' debut". Newsday. Newsday. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Farber, Jim (14 April 2015). "Shawn Mendes' "Handwritten" review: Squeaky-clean 16-year-old crooner poised to be next teen titan". NY Daily News. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Murray, Nick (14 April 2015). "Shawn Mendes's New Album: Handwritten". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (13 April 2015). "Album of the Week: Shawn Mendes". USA Today. USA Today. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Keith Claufield (April 22, 2015). "Shawn Mendes' 'Handwritten' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Shawn Mendes Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.
  13. ↑ "#LOTPAcousticOniTunes". Facebook. Shawn Mendes.
  14. ↑ "#KidInLoveOniTunes". Twitter. Shawn Mendes.
  15. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (2015-04-29). "Alabama Shakes Scores Its First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  16. ↑ Cross, Alan (April 22, 2015). "Weekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 22 April 2015". Alan Cross. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Handwritten on iTunes".
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Handwritten (Deluxe) on iTunes".
  19. ↑ "Handwritten (Target) on Target".
  20. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Australiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Shawn Mendes Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Shawn Mendes. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Officialcharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  29. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 16, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Italiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Portuguesecharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  34. ↑ "2015-04-19 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Shawn Mendes – Handwritten". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  38. ↑ "2015-04-19 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  39. ↑ "Shawn Mendes Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Shawn Mendes. Retrieved April 23, 2015.