Shawn Mendes believes the "genre wall is broken".
Shawn Mendes
The 19-year-old singer released two very different tracks this week, the rocky 'In My Blood' and R&B influenced 'Lost in Japan', and he loves the fact audiences no longer restrict themselves to the types of music they want to hear.
He said: "The genre wall is broken, it doesn't matter what you listen to, people used to be scared to listen to pop music, or listen to this, but now they listen to everything."
And Shawn thinks it's "awesome" that the two taster tracks will leave fans unsure of what to expect from his upcoming album.
He told Billboard: "I think people are gonna think on Thursday that it's gonna be a rock album, and then on Friday, they're gonna have no idea what's going on and it's awesome...
"I think nowadays people are consuming music very fast and you've got to keep people excited. I've been holding two songs so the faster I can get them out, the better."
The 'Stitches' hitmaker credits his own diverse taste in music for the eclectic sound of his new songs.
He said: "I was super inspired by Kings of Leon at the start of the record, then I discovered the wonderful world of Kanye West. I got super into Daniel Caesar, and then Justin Timberlake, and always listening to Ed Sheeran and John Mayer.
"I think is a perfect explanation as to why the music is so all over the place is cause that's how I was listening to it at the time."
'In my Blood' was written about Shawn's struggles with anxiety and he's "really proud" to have penned something so personal.
He said: "It's talking about my first experience with anxiety and dealing with that. If you're going to talk something that close to you, you have to be literal.
"I'm really proud of it. I think, especially, comparing that to all of my other music - I love all of my other songs, but...it was all kind of more vague topics about a relationship, and this is my first time breaking into something that's more serious and more about me."
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