Shawn Mendes has cancelled the remaining dates on his ‘Wonder’ world tour due to his ongoing mental health struggles.
His decision to cancel is not one many pop stars would openly make. As fans we are so used to hearing the same old line of ‘exhaustion’ when artists postpone or cancel shows, so Mende’s honesty with fans about the real reason he is cancelling is great to see.
The 23 year old Canadian singer has spoken of his recent difficulties adjusting back to the touring lifestyle. In a post to his Twitter Mendes said:
"I started this tour excited to finally get back to playing live after a long break due to the pandemic, but the reality is I was not at all ready for how difficult touring would be after this time away.
"After speaking with my team and working with an incredible group of health professionals, it has become more clear that I need to take the time I've never taken personally, to ground myself and come back stronger.”
Shawn’s recent announcement follows a similar statement made by the singer earlier in the month, when he postponed 3 weeks of performances to “take some time to heal and take care of my mental health”.
Shawn wrote at the time: “I’ve been touring since I was 15 and to be honest it’s always been difficult to be on the road. After a few years off the road, I felt I was ready to dive back in, but that decision was premature and unfortunately the toll of the road and the pressure has caught up to me and I’ve hit a breaking point.”
Clearly those 3 weeks Shawn took to rest have not been enough - so the singer has made the tough decision to cancel the remaining dates on his highly anticipated world tour.
As the mental health toll of the pandemic stretches on, people have been talking more and more about the long road out of burn-out. It’s great to see an artist as massive as Shawn Mendes putting his mental health first.
