Shawn Mendes And Khalid Team Up For The Ultimate New ‘Youth’ Anthem
May 3, 2018
Shawn Mendes's third album, appropriately titled Shawn Mendes, is only a few weeks away now, and so far, we've heard him lay himself bare on "In My Blood" and get a little frisky on "Lost In Japan." Thursday (May 3) saw the release of his third advance single, "Youth," a meditative but empowering anthem with a simple refrain: "You can't take my youth away."
And to accomplish the task of making a grooving but ruminative midtempo bop, Mendes recruited none other than Khalid, whose gravelly voice pairs nicely with Mendes's own patented rasp (which is actually softened a bit on this particular track).
The message of the song is simple but effective: Bad stuff happens, but with the kind of positive outlook that resides in the spirit of youth, hate won't win. In other words, the young folks are all out here waiting, waiting on the world to change.
After Shawn Mendes drops on May 25, you can find Mendes himself at The Late Late Show during a weeklong residency. No word yet if Khalid — or Julia Michaels, who also features on the album, or anyone else — will pop in for cameos.
But knowing Mendes, he'll be a natural to take all of the spotlight anyway. Check out "Youth" (and Khalid's contributions) above.