Shawn Mendes came close to quitting music after putting so much pressure on himself to be a success, he lost the ability to sing.
The 22-year-old singer “burnt out” and suffered a “meltdown” but ultimately realised he was putting too much pressure on himself to always be successful.
He said: “I burnt out and had a meltdown within, but not externally.”
Asked if he thought about quitting music, he told The Guardian newspaper: “Yes. I came extremely close. Extremely, extremely close…
“[What stopped me?] I realised it’s not the industry, it’s the way I do the industry. I let the industry control what I do, rather than me controlling my life.”
The “Stitches” hitmaker was so stressed about wanting his album ‘Wonder’ to be as successful as his previous records that he lost the ability to sing.
He said: “I had a moment at the end of January when my body would not allow me to sing.
“I physically couldn’t sing because of my anxiety to have a successful album. The fear strangled me and literally stopped me being able to sing.
“It was a month before I felt like I was taking the first step. I really fell down.”
Shawn explained his success turned into a “big monster” that destroyed his confidence because he felt like he was “worth nothing” if even just one person didn’t like what he does.
He said: “I started playing music in front of an audience of the world at 15 years old. I was on the road for seven years straight and I had a lot of success, a lot of big songs, a lot of reasons for people to praise me and to think I was great, and a lot of reasons for me to think I was great.
“That’s where it gets stressful. All of that praise and all that success was turning into a big monster that was eating my self-confidence because, if anybody said they didn’t like my music, all of a sudden I felt I was worth nothing.
“And that’s what happens when you connect who you are with what you do.
“That’s the problem. That’s where you go into a complete meltdown, when you try to make something that’s impossible to make: something that the whole world likes.”
Fortunately, the “Senorita” hitmaker is now able to look at his situation differently, thanks to “three therapists and 55 self-help books”.
He said: “It is a psychological head-f***. It completely is, and that’s after three therapists and 55 self-help books plus meditation and exercise and life experience and all of the things I’ve been working through for the last year and a half.”