Many artists have spoken out about the negative effect social media has had on them. Shawn Mendes has added his two cents on the topic — and warned any hopefuls out there to protect themselves.
Speaking to Zane Lowe of The Zane Lowe Show at Apple Music 1, Shawn says, “When you have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people projecting their opinion of who they think you [are] and why they think you’re that onto you … the human brain is fragile.”
He continues, “It’s sad because I think about little Shawn, like 15-, 16-year-old Shawn, who is just trying to do his best job and has no idea. No one told him, ‘Hey, dude, you’re in for one because having hundreds of thousands of people daily tell you what they think about you, it’s going to be really intense on the psyche. It’s going to mess you up a little bit."”
Then Shawn issued his warning: “If you’re an artist and you’re 15 years old and you’re getting started right now, if there’s one thing I could tell you it’s protect yourself from social media. Protect yourself from the masses and what they think about you.”
Someone who’s taking Shawn’s advice is his ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello, who wrote on her Instagram Story Thursday, “a writer must have stories. living them right now. taking some cute little internet breaks. love you my babies.”
Shawn tells Zane of Camila, “I think we haven’t been the closest over the last couple of years, but I think we really know each other. We’ve spent a lot of time together. We really know each other’s hearts … and it’s just nice to have that.” Shawn’s new album, SHAWN, comes out Friday.
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