If One Direction ever decides to welcome a fifth member again, fans might already have someone in mind — Shawn Mendes!
The Canadian sensation shared a cover of 1D’s newest single “Drag Me Down” to his YouTube page on Wednesday, and had an instant hit on his hands. After drawing thousands of views in mere minutes, the clip also went viral on social media where the hashtag #ShawnsNewCover made Twitter’s trending list.
Listeners weren’t shy about sharing their excitement for the acoustic track, but the accompanying video of Shawn performing the tune with his trusty guitar likely didn’t hurt.
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MY FAV SINGING MY OTHER FAVS SONG OMG OMG OMG #ShawnsNewCover pic.twitter.com/e668LyMamC
— trin (@shawnsdistrict) August 12, 2015
watching shawn like #ShawnsNewCover pic.twitter.com/i32yxlxHhz
— ali (@daytimemendes) August 12, 2015
Shawn shot to digital fame in 2013 after his renditions of popular songs like The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather” made him a star on Vine. He went on to release an EP of original music in 2014, including lead single “Life of the Party” that debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Taylor Swift took notice and invited Shawn to perform during a few stops on her “1989” world tour, and his first full-length album, April’s “Handwritten,” sold more than 100,000 copies its first week.
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Despite finding success relatively quickly, the teenager is already reflecting upon his career choices. Shawn poked fun at his earlier work in a series of Tweets on Wednesday.
“Looking back at videos of me a year ago and i look like the biggest dork lmaoo,” he posted, shortly before announcing “Drag Me Down.”
“It’s gonna be really cool if im still doing music 10 years from now to watch this year,” he added, but it sounds like the young singer-songwriter isn’t interested in any other options.
“Well, I have to be doing music 10 years from now. Got no back up plan LOL,” Shawn wrote. “Don’t want to do anything other than music anyway!”
— Erin Biglow
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