This 2018 Shawn Mendes Interview About Anxiety Is Trending Again For a Good Reason

Behind the smooth tone and dramatic drums of Shawn Mendes's hit single "In My Blood" are lyrics that document an inner struggle. Canadian outlet eTalk recently resurfaced a video from 2018 discussing the song and its ties to Shawn's anxiety in honor of Bell Let's Talk Day, a campaign created by Bell Canada to raise awareness about and destigmatize mental illness.

Shawn tells eTalk that the most challenging part about releasing a track with lyrics referring to walls caving in or lines like, "Someone help me / I'm crawling in my skin / Sometimes I feel like giving up / But I just can't / It isn't in my blood," was fighting the doubts that it wasn't worth listening to. "As a songwriter, I was thinking, 'I don't know if people are gonna want to listen to this because I don't know if they wanna hear me talk about being sad.'"

Shawn, who was 19 at the time of the interview, continued on to say, "I realize that 15-year-old me could have used 19-year-old me's song." It became, he explained, a "very intimate, personal thing." He further detailed to Billboard that same year that "In My Blood" explores specifically his first experience dealing with anxiety. It's meant to, he said, allude to this feeling that you're on the verge of giving up "and then you don't."

Dance-worthy songs get you excited to take on life and have fun, but vulnerable songs — ones that talk about inner struggles despite happy times — are what can truly connect us. Ahead, watch the full interview from eTalk and listen to "In My Blood."