I’ve never particularly liked this one, oop! Not a strong follow up to Stitches.

I'll never understand the disdain towards IKWYDLS and it really confuses me as I'm fairly certain it was well received on Buzzjack?! Lmao. A bop!

Not by me at least, I gave it a personal chart run of 36-35-out in 2016. I re-entered it at #19 in April 2019, which was a generous moment following seeing him on tour... I haven't heard it again since that week :kink:

 

As far as I can tell it peaked at #45 in BuzzJack's multi-chart, so it had its fans, but not very widespread like/love.

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=184017 <- thread from the time, not many replies at all and the reaction was mixed.

I like IKWYDLS! I just don't LOVE it like I love many Shawn singles :(

11

Nervous



7.35

Highest score: 09.0 (Jay)
Lowest score: 05.0 (Nick F1)

Just missing out on the top 10 by an average of 0.40 is Nervous - one of the promotional singles from Shawn's third, self-titled album. Although it's obvious Nervous would and should have been an official single, it still managed to become a fan favourite from the album, as well as having its own music video and performing pretty well in charts worldwide despite not being pushed very far. You have to wonder why the label decided not to go ahead with this and change gears completely. It seems like both this and Youth are songs that they wanted to push but didn't want to throw all of their weight behind in the event they were mighty flops. This song was co-written by Julia Michaels, who also features on the same album in a cute little collaboration called Like to Be You. The music video is pretty basic in terms of budget - we see Shawn playing guitar, and also being touched in every which way by ~mysterious hands~. If only they were mine lol. The song is honestly such a great inclusion on what's his strongest album to date, and a slight change in sound for Shawn, although still sounding so typically 'him'. In terms of chart performance, Nervous managed to hit #1 in New Zealand (! again - they truly are the biggest Shawn stans), as well as reaching #8 on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. In the UK, it failed to reach the top 40, landing a peak of #54. Not exactly the biggest flop anybody's ever seen, but not the most impressive either. At least it's been certified Gold in his home country of Canada! :magic:

Love Nervous, kind of surprised I'm alone in giving it a particularly high mark! I wish it had got a stronger push as a proper single.

 

Stan a bit New Zealand!

'Nervous' is really addicting! There's a certain charm to it's minimal production value. I like it a lot!

I'm going to have to be a pedant here, sorry :kink: 'Nervous' was only #1 on New Zealand's Heatseekers chart, i.e. their bubbling under chart, and not their official chart. So it's more or less a #41 peak over there. I agree it deserved better though :D

Nervous is brilliant!! Really deserved a full single push between In My Blood and Lost In Japan.

I'm going to have to be a pedant here, sorry :kink: 'Nervous' was only #1 on New Zealand's Heatseekers chart, i.e. their bubbling under chart, and not their official chart. So it's more or less a #41 peak over there. I agree it deserved better though :D

No worries Jordan! I do remember reading that it was the New Zealand xxxxx chart, but must've just forgotten to actually say that in the commentary oops! So really they don't love him as much as I'm giving them credit for? :o :lol:

10

Lover (Remix)



7.75

Highest score: 10.0 (...ready for it)
Lowest score: 05.0 (Nick F1)

Into the top 10 now, and we kick things off with the last release Shawn (and Taylor) treated us to in 2019. A surprise release in November announced by Taylor herself, this updated version of the track from her seventh studio album of the same name was just what we needed to tide us over in the winter months. This doesn't seem like a forced collaboration either just to rack up some extra sales for Taylor - the one thing about all of the songs that Shawn either features on or has people feature on is that they're with people he is genuinely close to, has deep friendships with, or in Camila's case is romantically involved with. Lover allows Shawn to add new depth to an already pretty emotional and beautiful song, giving his take on everything he'd put into a love letter for that special person. The lyrics are moving, and there's plenty of falsetto from Shawn that effortlessly manages to stay true to the original version too. Unlike some other releases around about the same time (see: Ariana Grande and Lizzo's remix of Good as Hell), this didn't feel disjointed. My only disappointment about this is that we didn't get an official music video featuring both Shawn and Taylor, although the ship had already sailed given Taylor released a video for the original version I guess. I'll let Jordan correct me again if I'm wrong, but the one country where the song saw any commercial success was, shockingly, New Zealand where it hit #5 in their Hot Singles chart. Aside: the best thing about this whole remix is the part in the final chorus where Shawn completely lets go and sings 'can I go where you go, baby?' - stunning in every way and it gives me chills.

I adore the Lover remix! Shawn adds an extra layer to the song :wub:

I enjoy the remix too! Would love them to work together again in the future, but on a song they both create.

9

Youth



7.90

Highest score: 09.5 (SamJudd)
Lowest score: 07.0 (Cameron, Nick F1, JosephStyles, ...ready for it)

At #9 we have Shawn's collaboration with Khalid (and later Jessie Reyez too on a remixed version of the song) - Youth. This was another of the promo singles from the album that was given the full artwork and music video treatment, but wasn't quite a full official single in its own right. While it did chart in many countries, it didn't reach the heights that it could have given some promotion and a bigger push by the label. The song's actually a really emotional one - it came to light (and prominence) around the time of the London Bridge and Manchester terrorist attacks in 2017, with the lyrics of the song taking on a whole new meaning. Not only that, the music video for the song ended up shedding light on gun violence too. For a lot of the songs on Shawn's third album, it was great to see him take lyrics that can be interpreted one way and then tell a completely different (but alarmingly important) story with them; Youth being one of the most important. While this isn't Shawn's best single by any means, it's a beautiful song and it's great to see him explore outside the boundaries of typical love and heartbreak songs. In terms of chart success, Youth peaked highest in both Belgium and Hungary at #4 - in the Ultratip Flanders and Streaming Top 40, respectively. It did reach the top 40 in the UK, too, but peaked at #35. Interestingly too, it's one of the few songs in this rate that managed scores of 07.0 and above from everybody, maybe its biggest achievement? :kink:

Youth's cute, not a highly essential Shawn song for me but I love the sentiment!

Love 'Youth', a major highlight from self-titled. :wub: I think his label messed up by not giving it a much bigger push. Glad it's made the Top 10 here!

 

P.S. Where has everybody gone gah x

8

Señorita



7.95

Highest score: 10.0 (SamJudd, JosephStyles, Jay)
Lowest score: 04.0 (Nick F1)

At #8, and just 0.05 ahead of Youth in terms of average scores, is Shawn's most recent single and second collaboration with girlfriend Camila Cabello - Señorita. Admittedly, I didn't expect this to finish as low as this (I thought it'd be a shoe-in for the top 5), but considering among a sea of 10.0's from 3 members it also received a couple of scores below 05.0, it becomes less of a shock. The second of only three Shawn releases in 2019 (If I Can't Have You and Lover being the other two), Señorita went on to become the most commercially successful of the three, bagging Shawn a UK #1, and for more than one week too! The song was co-written by Charli XCX, Ali Tamposi, Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat - a lot of big names coming together for a track that has, quite rightfully, gone on to be one of the biggest things Shawn (and Camila) has put his name to. Señorita quickly became one of the tracks of the summer, and although the song itself is steamy and sexy, the release of its accompanying music video heated things up even more. We had Shawn shirtless, we had almost-NSFW scenes with Camila, and just general lust and flirtatiousness throughout. Shawn looks as good as ever in the video, and sounds as good as ever on the song itself. Although it's not my favourite of Shawn's singles by any means, it's definitely among the greats and it was so nice to see him having such a massive boost in a year where he hadn't released an album. It's a song that's best enjoyed with an ice-cold drink, in the sun enjoying life, but even now sitting in lockdown it still sounds as good as the first day hearing it. The song went on to win a number of awards too, namely Collaboration of the Year at the American Music Awards, as well as Best Collaboration AND Best Cinematography at the MTV Video Music Awards. As well as hitting #1 in countless countries worldwide, the song also finished at #10 in the year-end UK chart for 2019, as well as high top 10 and even #1 in some other countries. All round, a song with so many achievements attached and one that'll probably go down as one of Shawn's big successes in his career.

I'm a little bit bored of Señorita rn. But it's a bop! I definitely understand why it's his biggest hit to date. I was obsessed with it for a while, but now I don't really go out my way to listen to it coz it's overplayed a bit.

I definitely needed a break from Señorita after playing it loads last summer, but it's truly fantastic and it was no surprise that it became such a mega smash! Kind of surprised it's as low as 8th :o

Yeah overplay has definitely taken some of the magic away from it. I feel too that it's such a shame If I Can't Have You didn't have the same kind of success this did, personally I find it the better song of the two. :(