Shawn Mendes and fellow Canadian Justin Bieber shared the news Monday that their highly anticipated collaboration “Monster” will drop on Friday.
The song came to light in September when Mendes shared the track list of his forthcoming album Wonder (out Dec. 4) in a teaser video – although it referred only to a “special guest.”
Last month, Mendes appeared on a UK radio show and admitted it would be “insane” to turn down a collaboration with Bieber “considering he’s been one of my favourite artists since I was like nine years old.”
Mendes, 22, gushed that Bieber, 26, is "freakishly talented.”
Exactly four years earlier, Bieber urged his Twitter followers to purchase Mendes’ new album Illuminate. “Shawn Mendes voice makes me smile,” he tweeted. “Truly a gift to be able to move peoples (sic) emotions through songs! So proud of you brother! Great album!”
Mendes became only the second male artist – after Bieber – to have two consecutive albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart by the age of 18.
The bromance wasn’t always golden.
In 2015, Bieber said “Who’s Shawn Mendes?” when asked by a New York radio host if he had any advice for him. Ralphie Aversa explained “He’s from southern Ontario. He's 17 years old. He's got a song called ‘Stitches' that's, like, doing OK at pop radio…”
Bieber replied: “Nice. Nice. Good for him. I don’t know him, but I will check him out, for sure.”
Mendes took it in stride. “We haven’t met, but I guess he just doesn’t know,” Mendes later told BBC Radio 1. “I’m definitely a fan of him. I looked up to him for awhile, but I guess he just doesn’t know who I am. We’ll have to let him know.”
The next day, Bieber put an end to the drama. “Shawn I checked out the music and I’m so proud!,” he declared on social media. “So glad to see another boy from Canada crushin it. #canadiansdoitbetter”
Mendes was thrilled with the shout-out. "It was really cool, really sweet of him. I was really happy," he told MTV at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. "Obviously, people took that the wrong way, so it was really nice of him to do that.”
Teaming up with Bieber on "Monster" is a good move for Mendes, whose biggest hit ever was a duet. “Señorita” with Camila Cabello became Mendes’ first No. 1 song when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2019.
The title track from Wonder, released as the debut single on Oct. 2, is currently at No. 32 on the Hot 100, where it peaked at a disappointing No. 18.
Bieber has done a string of collaborations that made it into the Top 5, including ”Stuck With U" with Ariana Grande, ”Intentions" ft. Quavo, “I Don’t Care” with Ed Sheeran and “10,000 Hours” with Dan + Shay.
“Holy,” ft. Chance the Rapper, debuted at No. 3 on Hot 100 and is currently at No. 7.