The Full Take on Shawn Mendes' New Album "Illuminate"

Turner Huff, Staff WriterOn September 22nd at exactly 11:22 p.m Shawn Mendes tweeted out the release of his new album “Illuminate”. I immediately opened iTunes, searched Shawn Mendes and clicked buy on his new album. After I anxiously waited for each song to download I quickly facetimed my friend Sahanaya. I decided to skip the first five songs because they were already released before the entire album was officially released.The first song on the album is titled “Like This”. The song starts with piano melody which instantly gave me the chills. Like most of his songs, the song is about a girl in his life. Going into the chorus I began to hear his vocals overlay one another to give a melancholy vibe. After the overwhelming amount of vocals, I was ready to hear the rest of the album. The next song titled “No Promises” starts with a guitar melody. The amount of vocals expand and shrink throughout the song which is a genius creative move. The song gives a carefree vibe basically telling a story about taking chances. After the first two songs exceeded my expectations, I was excited to hear the rest of the album.The next song titled “Lights On” starts with another guitar melody, but with a different type of tune. The mood I instantly got was a reminiscent vibe of spending time with friends during the summer. The vocals and melody of this track are perfectly done, which continued my hype for this album. The next song on his album is titled “Honest." This song however, was a bit of a let down because unlike the other songs on this album, this song didn’t really give me any type of mood or vibe. Obviously I wasn’t going to let one song decide how I feel about the whole album so I was still excited to hear the rest.The song on the album, “Patience," starts with Shawn playing the guitar which I was perfectly fine with. This song holds a subtle vibe throughout the whole song which I like because it’s different than the other songs on the album. However I was not ready for the next song on the album titled “Bad Reputation”. The song starting with a piano melody, and set the tone of the song perfectly. This song tells a story about how people shouldn’t judge others based on their reputation which is perfect for today's society. As far as stories being told in songs, this was by far my favorite song on his new album.The last three songs are a perfect way to conclude the album. The third to last song titled “Understand” starts again with a piano melody which I love about the song. The song sends such a good message to people about finding the truth in yourself. I love how this song still sends a strong message and it has nothing to do about relationships. The second to last song titled “Hold On” begins with Shawn playing the guitar once again. A great message is being conveyed in this song, and is saying that if you are going through a tough time, you need to just to keep going because there is plenty of life ahead. The song on the album titled “Roses” was probably my least favorite on the album because it was just talking about another relationship. Overall, “Illuminated” was an amazing album consisting of several different messages portrayed throughout each song and I would definitely recommend it.