Shawn and I are the same person. I would have never known that if it weren’t for this documentary.
Now, obviously he’s dating Camila Cabello and we’re all aware of it, but to Shawn’s credit, I have always loved his music. There are gems on Handwritten, Illuminate and his self-titled album. Aftertaste… The Weight…Lights On? Perfectly Wrong? Ooh. Gems.
I’ve seen Shawn at both the The Hippodrome and The O2 Arena. The O2 especially was a phenomenal show. But, enough of that, let’s get into the best parts of this documentary.
1. The music.
We hear snippets of foetus Shawn covering Ed Sheeran’s Give Me Love, and later A Great Big World’s Say Something (Andrew Gertler credits this as the cover that led to him discovering Mendes). At 10:32 we hear Shawn performing a short piano rendition of I Wanna Dance with Somebody. At 12:30, it’s Lionel Richie’s All Night Long playing in the background as Shawn and his team share a pre-show huddle. 23:55, one of my favourite moments, Shawn and Camila sing John Mayer’s Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.
Later in the documentary, at 55:06, Shawn solemnly plays Ne-Yo’s So Sick on guitar. This inspired me to go and learn the same riff quickly. His musical selections are truly exquisite.
2. Shawn’s love for love, old school lyricism and grandiose orchestras.
14:41 is shot of Shawn in a car with Can’t Take My Eyes Off You playing on the stereo. “You don’t hear a song where the lyrics say you’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you” shares Shawn and… he’s right. For some reason, we’ve stopped professing love the way we used to. Shawn’s love for musicality and honest, vulnerable exclamations of love are something I find really special and wish there was more of in today’s climate.
At 37:40, Shawn is driving his Tesla as he shares a new snippet of a song. He gets massively excited about the drums creating moments in the track and it’s truly a pleasure to watch the way he lights up.
3. The honesty.
13:00: “I used to look at so many of my idols and be like… ‘how can you ever be that?’ They were born legendary. That’s just not the truth.” There is so much truth in this line. No one is born legendary. Shawn follows this up with how he feels puzzled when people ask him what he would be doing if this weren’t his life. I share that same feeling at times. You just know when something is meant for you, and you also know it takes work. So you put it in. The blood, sweat and tears.
4. The way he loves talking about Camila.
There's a part where he’s casually sharing what their typical mornings look like and he’s so happy talking about it. It’s beyond cute. In fact, their entire bond is really heart-warming. The scene where they are both rehearsing for an awards show performance of their collaborative track Senorita, really got me. I also couldn’t help but smile at a later point in the film where Shawn confesses it’s always been about Camila. “Everything’s about you, they’re all about you. Every song I ever wrote.”
At 22 minutes in – Shawn describes how he struggles to fully capture the feelings with Camila. “It’s like when you see a moon or stars, and you try and take a photo of it with your iPhone, and then you just can’t. It just doesn’t look good. And you’re like ‘It’s not supposed to be captured’, you know? It’s just supposed to be for us.” He’s right. Some things go beyond any physical form you could possibly find. They’re just really special and you could spend a lifetime trying to describe it, and still get nowhere near it. I guess they’re not meant to be shared. They’re yours.
5. He doesn’t forget his friends or family.
This is a major thing for me. I loved the shot at 29:00, where Shawn says his wins are his friends’ wins too. “Look guys, we made it". At 32:00, Shawn picks up his younger sister, and takes an interest in her first day at school. It’s the little things.
6. He craves moments of stillness, tranquility and normalcy.
33:00 shows Shawn running through an open field at sunset. He then lays on the ground and looks at the sky. This is me at Alexandra Palace. It feels so soothing, and like you’re connected to the Earth’s core energy. The ground beneath you and the infinite sky above. It’s refreshing.
A particular touching scene is his family home scene at 35:50 where his mum laughs that Shawn only comes home to eat and he’s always hungry when he arrives– this couldn’t be more me if he tried! “You make more money than all of us and still come here to eat for free!” I love this so, so much.
7. The studio snippet that comes in at 47:12.
I believe this is Teach Me How To Love from the upcoming album. The “Oooohhh your body is like an ocean” had me instantly. Also, it’s incredible to see how involved Shawn is in the production of his own music.
8. Shawn’s calm and collected nature vs the superstar he is.
This is something that resonated heavily with me. Across the entire documentary, Shawn’s gentleness & soft-spoken nature shines as his predominant nature and approach to both life and the world around him, but it is juxtaposed with the absolute star he is on stage.
Shawn is just a regular guy, who likes hanging with friends and looking at stars… but at the same time loves music, and performing. I guess it’s super hard to consolidate those two elements of yourself. This was really highlighted for me when Shawn’s voice began to cut out mid tour and he thinks out loud “If I tell the world that I’m just a normal human, are they going to stop coming to the shows and listening to the music and like, is all the craziness going to stop?”
It’s not that you don’t love the craziness, you do. But you also need the downtime. It’s experiencing everything at the extremes all the time, it can be exhausting but… that’s all you know. 2mph or 2000mph. No in between. It can feel overwhelming.
Overall, #InWonder is a stunning documentary. Well done to Shawn and everyone involved for producing such a wholesome piece of content, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m excited for everything there is to come for Shawn, and will be giving him his flowers for it all too… what a stunningly beautiful human.
Do take a watch if you can, and in the meantime, let me know your thoughts on any of the above!
Thank you and all the love,
Steph
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