Shawn Mendes (Deluxe Reissue)

世界に響く、エモーショナル・ヴォイス
全米1位・グラミー賞ノミネートの最新アルバムに、現在までの大ヒット曲を追加収録したニュー・デラックス盤
「セニョリータ」 (ショーン・メンデス&カミラ・カベロ)、 「イフ・アイ・キャント・ハヴ・ユー」、「ロスト・イン・ジャパン(リミックス)」 (ショーン・メンデス&ゼッド)の3曲をスタンダード盤に追加した全17曲収録。

Picking up the thread left dangling from 2016's Illuminate, Shawn Mendes decides to create an even more fashionable set of soulful pop on his eponymous 2018 album. Mendes remains a quivering adolescent presence -- he was still 19 years old when this album saw release -- but his self-titled record is assured and quietly confident in a way that suggests he has his adulthood on his mind. He doesn't abandon the soft-focus soul that turned "Stitches" into a breakthrough smash, but he deepens his groove and polishes his surfaces, all the while concentrating on crafting sturdy songs. Never mind that the album gets off to a shaky start with "In My Blood," an anonymous arena rock number that suggests he equates playing rock to the rafters with real music, a notion that's dispelled by the remainder of the record. He builds Shawn Mendes on lithe, tuneful R&B numbers, happy to have songs be as mellowly effervescent as "Queen" or as modern as the gently pulsating "Youth," which is graced by an appearance from Khalid. Mendes occupies a space between modern R&B and Ed Sheeran's earnest balladeering, but the key to his success -- both commercially and artistically -- is his light touch. There's a palpable sweetness to music that endures, even when a production is as bright and glistening as it is on Shawn Mendes. That bodes well for the future that Shawn Mendes is so evidently planning for. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

前2作にも関与していたテディ・ガイガーがほとんどの曲を手掛けるこのアルバムは、色っぽいファルセットを大々的にフィーチャーし、アコースティック・ソウルをメインに据えた一枚に。憧れのジョン・メイヤーによるプロデュース曲もしっくり馴染んでいるし、カリードと傷心を歌い合う"Youth"も胸に切なく迫るもの。流行から少しだけ距離を置こうという決断が、少年を大人の男へと成長させました。
bounce (C)山西絵美