Shawn Mendes is making a big change following his recent breakup from Camila Cabello. Admitting he’s been having a “hard time” with social media as of late, the “Señorita” singer shared in an Instagram video on Thursday that he has plans to step back from the public platforms. “I’m having a little bit of a hard time with social media at the moment and just kind of my relationship with it,” he said of his decision. “But I have lots of people sending me videos and telling me what’s going on.”
The 23-year-old continued, “I think that when I make music, the ultimate goal is to kind of be sitting there and have my own truth revealed to me. A lot of the time when I’m writing songs, I’m using music as a platform to be able to get to a place inside myself that I wouldn’t be able to get to by just talking to people or thinking about it.”
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Mendes’ leave of absence from social media comes as he releases a new song, “It’ll Be Okay,” which is available to stream and purchase now. Lyrics in the song include: “If you tell me you’re leaving, I’ll make it easy/ It’ll be okay/ If we can’t stop the bleeding/ We don’t have to fix it/ We don’t have to stay/ I will love you either way/ Ooh-ooh, it’ll be oh, be okay/.”
“I see a lot of TikToks of people crying and getting emotional and stuff, and I hope that’s because there’s some truth in the song and there lies [an] honesty in it,” he said in the video of the new song. “I just feel so proud of that song and I feel so grateful that you guys are connecting with it and I feel so grateful that people are being vulnerable with it and people are having fun with it. I just wanted to come on here and show my love and appreciation. I see you guys and I see how much love you’re giving and that means the world to me.”
Mendes and Cabello issued a joint statement in mid-December to announce they were ending their two-year relationship. “We’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for one another as humans is stronger than ever,” they wrote in both their statements. “We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”
Mendes is heading out on a world tour in 2022, with European dates starting in March and American dates starting in June, stretching all the way to the end of October.
