Shawn Mendes Is On Track To Sell 200,000+ Downloads Of Debut Single “Life Of The Party”

Mike Wass | June 27, 2014 6:13 pm

If you’ve been on iTunes in the past couple of days you’re probably wondering who the hell is Shawn Mendes and why is his debut single “Life Of The Party” sitting at number one ahead of radio staples like MAGIC!‘s “Rude” and Sam Smith‘s “Stay With Me”? Well, the first part of the question is fairly straightforward. The newcomer is a 15-year-old Vine superstar (that’s a real thing!) from Canada.

His six-second covers caught the attention of attention of Island Records and he got to work on an EP of original material that drops July 21. “Life Of The Party” was supposed to be fairly low-key introduction to Shawn’s music — the label isn’t sending the song to radio (expect this to change) — but it shot straight to number one on iTunes and is on track to sell more than 200,000 downloads in its first week, which should equate to a top 30 debut on the Billboard Hot 100.

No doubt endorsements by Ed Sheeran and Ryan Seacrest helped the teenager’s cause but there’s no denying that the song stands on its own. “Life Of The Party” starts off as a fairly simple piano ballad that nicely showcases Shawn’s vocal chops before building into a mid-tempo monster with an instantly memorable chorus and uplifting message. Listen to the future smash after the jump.

Do you love Shawn’s debut single? Let us know in the comments below.

[Via Billboard].

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