INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Shawn Mendes On His ‘Unreal’ Billboard Music Award Nominations

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:44 PST, May 19, 2017

Shawn Mendes, music sensation of 2017, is up against Adele, Drake, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna at this year’s Billboard Music Award, and the 18-year-old “Stitches” hitmaker is blown away by his BMA nominations.

Although Shawn Mendes is no stranger to breaking Billboard charts, it was nonetheless mind-blowing for the 18-year-old singer to learn that he was nominated in three categories for Billboard Music Award 2017.

Shawn Mendes, who has had eight of his songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and two of his albums landed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, admits in his email to Billboard that it felt “unreal to know how far things have come.”

Shawn Mendes had his breakthrough year in 2015, when the then 16-year-old released hit singles “Life of the Party” and “Stitches” and then treated his fans to his debut album Handwritten.

And the Billboard Music Awards are acknowledging Shawn Mendes’s music success and even gives him the top praise, a Top Artist nomination, to compete against Adele, Drake, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, The Weeknd, Twenty One Pilots, The Chainsmokers, and Ariana Grande.

Other of Shawn Mendes’s nominations at the Billboard Music Award 2017 are top male artist and top social artist. The singer cannot contain his excitement over the nods, and says the BMA nominations feel like “true recognition of the success my music.”

“I know it also means so much to my fans, which is always incredible.”

When Billboard Music Awards 2017 announced nominations that included three nods for Shawn Mendes, nobody contacted him to break the news. The singer confessed that he found out about it on Twitter.

The unsuspecting Shawn Mendes woke up in the morning to check his phone. Like any 18-year-old, he of course went on Twitter to check new mentions, and imagine his surprise when he saw his name being listen alongside the likes of Adele, Drake, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna!

Despite his shock over the Billboard Music Awards 2017 nominations, Shawn Mendes says the nods feel “extra special” because they serve as “the culmination of a year” where he wanted to unveil the new Shawn Mendes to the music industry.

And the music industry, apparently, liked it! Like, on the Top Artist-level liked it.

No matter how much Shawn Mendes would want to see his name pop up in the list of nominees for Top Artist at Nevada’s T-Mobile Arena, the singer says he won’t be in attendance of the awards show this coming Sunday.

Shawn Mendes has a scheduled performance in Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of his Illuminate World Tour. But the 18-year-old singer is hopeful he’ll have a chance to watch the Billboard Music Award on TV.

But hoping to see himself win won’t be the only thing Shawn Mendes is hoping to do while watching the broadcast of Billboard Music Award this coming Sunday, May 21.

Shawn Mendes says he’s looking forward to seeing Ed Sheeran perform at the BMAs. Interestingly, Mendes doesn’t have to worry about Ed Sheeran stealing away awards from him, as the “Shape of You” hitmaker isn’t nominated in any of the categories this year.

Shawn Mendes is also fired up about the upcoming performance of his pal Camila Cabello at the Billboard Music Awards. Mendes, who is a former collaborator of the singer, says Cabello performing her new single “Crying in the Club” will be a memorable moment of the night.

“She’s going to kill it!”

The Billboard Music Awards 2017 will air on Sunday, May 21, at 8 P.M. ET on ABC. The BMAs will air just days after it was announced that Shawn Mendes received four nominations at next month’s iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards, according to Billboard.

[Featured Image by Jordan Strauss/AP Images]

Share this article: Shawn Mendes On His ‘Unreal’ Billboard Music Award Nominations
rihanna beyonce drake justin bieber Shawn Mendes
More from Inquisitr