8 things you didn't know about Shawn Mendes (2024)

8 things you didn't know about Shawn Mendes (1)

  • Shawn Mendes is celebrating his 21st birthday on August 8.
  • Mendes has gone from a Vine star to the third youngest solo artist to have three No. 1 albums on Billboard's Top 200 chart.
  • He taught himself how to play the guitar by the time he was 13 years old.
  • Despite being an international superstar, Mendes still has a stuffed lion named Leo he carries around with him.
  • Ed Sheeran has also been a mentor to the young star.
  • Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Shawn Mendes accomplished quite a lot by the time he turned 21.

The former Vine star is the third youngest solo artist to achieve three No. 1 albums on Billboard's Top 200 chart. Mendes is also selling out stadiums across the world with his current world tour, "Shawn Mendes: The Tour," and was nominated for two Grammys this year.

It's safe to say that the "Lost in Japan" singer-songwriter doesn't have anything holding him back.

In celebration of the Toronto native's birthday on August 8, here are eight things you probably didn't know about Mendes.

He collects guitars and said he has almost 40.

Shawn Mendes performing at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater on June 15, 2018 in Wantagh, New York. Arik McArthur/Getty Images

Mendes taught himself how to play the guitar by the time he was 13 years old, and began collecting them a few years ago. In a 2018 interview with GQ, he revealed just how many he has so far.

"How many guitars do I have? Way too many for how long I've been collecting guitars," he said. "I have like 35 or 40 guitars, which is a lot of guitars for like only three [or] four years of collecting."

In 2014, he revealed that he has a stuffed lion that he carries with him.

Shawn Mendes performs onstage during iHeartRadio Music Awards Fan Army Nominee Celebration on March 27, 2015 in Burbank, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

"I carry around this little Lion named Leo, which I've had for as long as I can remember," he told MTV.

In 2016, he even tweeted "Leo is the man," a seeming reference to the stuffed animal.

Ed Sheeran flew him out for dinner after Mendes' manager, Andrew Gerter, sent him videos of the young singer.

Shawn Mendes performs "Mercy" with Ed Sheeran during the Illuminate Tour at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on August 16, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Taylor Hill/WireImage via Getty Images

He told the story in an interview with Billboard, after "Life of the Party" started topping the charts in 2014.

"I feel like he was trying to help me be successful in the industry by giving me all this advice," Mendes said. "He's the most humble guy I've ever met. I forgot he's my idol. I felt like I was in the room with one of my buddies."

Mendes managed to get his high school diploma in 2016, even though he was touring the US and making chart-topping hits since 2014.

Island Records president David Massey shared a photo of Shawn Mendes wearing a graduation cap with his family. Instagram/@davidmassey123

He attended Pine Ridge Secondary School in Toronto and managed to get his diploma thanks to online classes, according to Billboard.

"I really miss that whole experience of being in the classroom," Mendes said. "And then also, all the sports teams, all the music events, the talent shows, the camps — and actually, they've let me go to the leadership camps, and I'll be able to go to prom. So it will be really awesome."

But the singer-songwriter didn't always have a great time in high school.

Mendes recently opened up about how people used to make fun of him because of his Vine covers in an Instagram post.

"The day after I posted one of my first covers onto YouTube back in 2014, at school walking down the hall straight into a group of older guys yelling out 'Ssing [sic] for me Shawn sing for me!' in a way that made me feel absolutely horrible... made me feel like a joke, like what I was doing was just stupid & wrong," Mendes wrote in his lengthy caption.

He ended the post with a message for his fans about following their dreams no matter what.

"I know it's not just that easy & I'm not asking you to change your world overnight, BUT I want you to know that no matter how old you are, no matter who you are, no matter where you're from... you deserve to follow your heart," he wrote. "I'm here & I'm rooting for you."

He hopes to break into acting one day and produce a movie's soundtrack.

Shawn Mendes attends the 2018 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on October 9, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images

In an interview with GQ, Mendes referenced Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who created the soundtrack for 2007's "Into the Wild," and said that he'd want to do something similar.

"I want to produce and maybe write films one day," he said. "My biggest goal would be to produce and work on a movie concept and then also write the soundtrack to it."

He hates tomatoes and is convinced they're not healthy.

Shawn Mendes at the Billboard's 2018 Live Music Summit Panels at Montage Beverly Hills on November 13, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images

The "Stitches" singer has been very vocal about how much he detests tomatoes and has even taken to Twitter to express how much he dislikes the vegetable.

"Tomatoes ruin everything," he wrote in a 2014 tweet.

He even commented on a tweet with a photo of a tomato that his frequent collaborator, Camila Cabello, posted.

"This is haunted Camila," he wrote in the 2016 tweet.

His dad once said that Mendes gets his shyness around women from him.

Shawn Mendes and his father Manuel Mendes at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Mendes told Rolling Stone that he "has no game," and his father, Manuel Mendes, chimed in.

"There's less we have to do because of the good hair," Mendes' father said. "We're already 10 steps ahead. But being good-looking doesn't make you have game."

He has seven tattoos so far, including a matching elephant tattoo he got with his mom on the inside of his left hand's middle finger.

Shawn Mendes performs during the Power 96.1 Jingle Ball 2018 at State Farm Arena on Friday, December 14, 2018, in Atlanta. Hector Amador for imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX via AP

He got his first tattoo when he was 17, which is the acoustic guitar on his right forearm.

Mendes also has a swallow bird on his right hand, a meditating person on his right wrist, the number eight on the inside of his left hand's middle finger, a light bulb on the back of his right arm, and a butterfly on his right bicep.

Read the original article on INSIDER. Copyright 2019.

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8 things you didn't know about Shawn Mendes (2024)

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