WE Day is the celebration of all things WE. When hundreds of thousands of students gather to tell the powerful stories of how they are changing the world, a movement begins. Follow along as we highlight inspiring WE Day speakers, local & global her...
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There are few celebs who are as open on social media as Shawn Mendes. Sometimes bordering on TMI (but we love it), Shawn tweets about everything from zits to raw feelings. This singer-songwriter wants people to know he's just a regular guy.
Always a WE Day favourite, Shawn loves sharing the message of kindness and being a force for positivity. Our crowd of world changers get super loud whenever he hits the stage!
Before his incredible WE Day Toronto performance, we got chatting backstage and were hanging on his every word.
You're pretty much an advocate for being kind! What's the best random act of kindness you've seen?
I forget which city I was in, but I was on tour and there was a blind man trying to cross the street and there were cars whizzing back and forth. I saw this little boy run up and grab his arm and he's like Okay, I got you. I watched this little boy cross the street with this blind man. It was like the coolest random act of kindness I've ever seen. I was so excited about it. I think I tweeted about it.
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Speaking of Twitter. We love how open you are on social media!
What I hate about the industry is that sometimes there's an artist and you kind of just see them up on a pedestal. You just see the lights and you don't really know them, you know? I want my fans to know my weaknesses and know what I don't like and what I love. It's also the best connection because when they come to my show they don't just see me on stage as like Shawn Mendes the guy who's in those videos and stuff like that. They see me as a person they know.
Self-esteem can definitely be a struggle for a lot of people. Where do you find your confidence?
It comes from the moments where I surprise myself. That's one of the things I live for in life – surprising yourself when you never thought you could do something but then you do it. There's a lot of times when I'm my own worst critic. I try to bring it back to what I have been able to accomplish not what I haven't.
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The cheers go up a few notches when you hit the WE Day stage. What does this experience mean to you?
I think it's just my favourite event to do by far, because the kids truly deserve to be there. They have to do the global act and the local act to get here. I really, really want to share this moment with you guys and I hope you enjoy it. You have that vibe back and forth with the crowd where they're like Yes, we're so happy to be here and vice versa. It's really cool.
Thanks Shawn! If you want to join Shawn in spreading kindness, check out to start taking action. Stay tuned for more backstage convos!
