Shawn Mendes reflected on his high school days in Ontario in an Instagram post on Sunday that sparked responses from famous friends like Niall Horan and Camila Cabello.
"I’m thinking about being in 9th grade right now. The day after I posted one of my first covers onto YouTube back in 2014.. at school walking down the hall straight into a group of older guys yelling out ‘sing for me Shawn sing for me!’ In a way that made me feel absolutely horrible... made me feel like a joke, like what I was doing was just stupid & wrong,” he shared, on a night off between concerts in Iowa and Michigan.
“I was lucky though, I had the best friends & the best parents anyone could ask for... no matter what they would never let me stop doing what I LOVED to do just because someone ELSE thought it was stupid.”
Mendes, who attended Pine Ridge Secondary School in Pickering, Ont., is currently on a world tour that runs until the end of the year.
The 20-year-old continued: “It’s not joke to me. To make someone feel bad about doing what they love... every single person deserves to do what makes them feel alive.
“I’m writing this not only to the 15 year old kid who’s scared to follow their heart because of what people might say but also to the 50 year old who may be doing the exact same thing. I know it’s not just that easy & I’m not asking you to change your world over night, BUT I want you to know that no matter how old you are, no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from... you deserve to follow your heart. Im here & i’m rooting for you.”
Horan commented: “Couldn’t relate or agree with something more If I tried... we had the last laugh.” Cabello, who has a new song with Mendes, said simply: “this is beautiful.”
Ryan Tedder wrote: “Ditto to all that I experienced the same [s**t] at my school. Thank God for thick skin.”
Jonah Marias of Why Don’t We commented” “eloquently said brother.”
Mendes also got emojis of love from artists like Hayley Kiyoko, Johnny Orlando, Benny Blanco, Lauren Jauregui, and Maggie Rogers.