You can both dance and cry to Shawn Mendes’ “When You’re Gone”
Shawn Mendes’ new release “When You’re Gone” is lyrically powerful. Mendes is shown performing some of his other songs at Telenor Arena in 2017
April 14, 2022
With lyrics that express deep emotion and a pop tempo beat, “When You’re Gone” tells the story of the aftermath to the end of a relationship.
At midnight on March 31, Mendes released “When You’re Gone” after publicizing it on his social platforms and gaining excitement from his fans and followers.
As a whole, the song talks about heartbreak and how letting go is difficult once you grow accustomed to being in a relationship. Mendes released this soon after experiencing the end of a relationship that lasted two years.
Similar to “It’ll Be Okay”, I was under the impression that this heartbreak song would have a sad and somber tone. However, after hearing snippets of the chorus of the song available on Mendes’ TikTok prior to the release, I noticed it was a mostly upbeat pop-rock type beat. This led me to believe that the whole song would consist of this same type of rhythm. However, when listening to the entirety of it, it soon became clear that the song combined both sad and upbeat aspects.
Mendes starts the song with a short verse made up of two lines, “You never know how good you have it/Until you’re starin’ at a picture of the only girl that matters.” This demonstrates taking a relationship’s experiences for granted, and not appreciating it in the moment. Although the beginning of the piece is more or less sad, the rhythm picks up and gets better as it goes.
With both the verse and pre-chorus being extremely short, the majority of the song is made up of the chorus. Every time the chorus repeats, it gets one octave higher, and the background musical instruments add to the overall feel of the piece.
The chorus repeats a total of three times throughout the song. While in other songs repeating the same chorus over and over again can get annoyingly repetitive, the way the chorus for “When You’re Gone” is structured keeps you singing along to every part. The excitement builds up as you advance through the song, and there aren’t any dull moments.
Personally, this is a definite must-have in a vibey playlist. While the beat is easy to dance to, the lyrics and story behind it is truly meaningful. While these lyrics could be used in a sadder song, Mendes found a creative way to incorporate them into a pop song. Overall, I will definitely have “When You’re Gone” playing multiple times, as it has all of the necessary elements for a good piece of music.
Through this initial release, I cannot wait for a possible album to follow. Listen to “When You’re Gone” here. This song marks the beginning of a new Shawn Mendes era.
