July 28
Teen pop star Shawn Mendes to play Duluth Saturday
By: Keith Farner
Published: July 27, 2017
Teen pop star Shawn Mendes will bring the North American leg of his tour to Gwinnett on Saturday with a stop at the Gas South District in Duluth.
The world tour, which had stops in most of Europe in the spring and early summer, is to support his second album, “Iluminate.” The fast-rising star, who performs in front of throngs of teenage girls and their parents, has already toured with Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
The new album “Illuminate” features the hit lead single “Treat You Better,” which reached the Top 10 on both Billboard’s Hot 100 and Radio Songs charts. Last year, his song “Stitches” reached No. 4 on the charts. Following “Treat You Better,” he released three more songs including “Mercy,” “Ruin” and “Three Empty Words.”
Mendes, 18, grew up near Toronto, and his popularity was fueled by web sites and social media, including Vine, YouTube and Twitter.
Rolling Stone has said Mendes has a “John Mayer-inspired future,” and Mendes had an admitted obsession with watching YouTube covers. So he set out to follow the path of his music idol, Sheeran, who served as the blueprint for Mendes’ songwriting and career.
Mendes has sold out such venues as Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden, and Mendes topped Spotify’s 25 Under 25 list, which meant he beat out such stars as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Chance the Rapper.
Spotify honored Mendes after the music streaming service said Mendes, who started his career posting six-second Vine clips of himself singing covers, attracts 25 million Spotify listeners each month. Spotify also said “Treat You Better” was on track to match Mendes’ breakout smash “Stitches,” which topped 500 million streams.
Another star, Charlie Puth, will open for Mendes.
Puth has had three songs reach the top 10 on the charts, including “Attention” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore.” Puth first made it into the top 10 as a featured guest on Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” which has nearly three billion views on YouTube, features Selena Gomez and was on the “Furious 7” movie soundtrack.