Upon release, Wonder received generally favourable reviews from music critics, most of whom noted Mendes' vocal improvements, but were polarized over the album's production and songwriting, deeming them predictable and formulaic. Wonder debuted at number one in Canada and the United States. Three singles supported the album: "Wonder", "Monster" with Justin Bieber, and "Call My Friends", with the former two reaching the top 20 of the US Billboard Hot 100.[3][4] The album's lead single, "Wonder," peaked at number 18 on the Hot 100, and reached the top ten in several other countries. The second single, "Monster," reached number eight on the US Hot 100 and topped the Canadian Hot 100. To promote the album, Mendes embarked on the Wonder World Tour, which commenced in June 2022 in Portland and was set to conclude in August 2023 in Dublin, before Mendes prematurely ended the tour in July 2022 due to mental health issues.[5][6]
Background and promotion
In August 2020, Shawn Mendes got the word "wonder" tattooed on his right arm, which would later turn out to be the title of the album and its lead single.[7] On September 30, 2020, the singer took to his social media to tease towards the project with the caption "WHAT IS #WONDER".[8] Hours later, he went on to announce the title and release dates of both lead single and album,[9][10] as well as release the interlude "Intro", the first track on the album.[11] The album pre-orders were released to streaming services on September 30.[12]
In a statement, Mendes said of Wonder: "It really feels like a piece of me has been written down on paper and recorded into song. I tried to be as real and as honest as I've ever been. It's a world and a journey and a dream and an album I've been wanting to make for a really long time. I absolutely love it. Thank you for being by my side for so many years. I love you all so much."[2]
Mendes revealed the album's tracklist through a Spotify canvas that was updated daily starting November 2, 2020.[citation needed] On November 13, Mendes revealed the tracklist on social media.[14]
Singles
"Wonder" was released as the title track and lead single from the album on October 2, 2020.[15] Teasers for both the song and accompanying music video were released alongside the announcement.[9][11] "Monster", a collaboration with fellow Canadian singer Justin Bieber, was released as the second single on November 20.[16] "Call My Friends" was released as promotional single alongside the album release on December 4.[17][18]
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 65 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 9 reviews.[20]
Rolling Stone writer Jon Dolan defined Wonder as a compelling mixture of "youthful passion" and "coming-of-age agony", characterized its production as "grandiose" with backing choirs and dramatic drums, with sentimental lyrics inspired heavily by Camila Cabello.[27]Vulture's Craig Jenkins found the album predictable, but praised Mendes for improving his vocals. He described it as a "headphone album, full of intriguing tones, lush textures, and unexpected twists", with "short and sweet" songs that lack the energy of his 2016 hit singles "Treat You Better" and "Mercy".[28] Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork felt the album was "naive—and vaguely terrifying" while opining "it’s nice to see his cup overflow so bountifully, but the near-constant awe quickly grows tiresome." He also noted that Wonder is Mendes' "most musically adventurous album" but that "every song is plagued by the same problem: Production that attempts to compensate for lyrical blandness by forcibly inserting drama." He ended his review by saying that Mendes "has yet to make a statement that truly sets him apart."[26]
Dubbing Mendes as the North American version of Ed Sheeran, The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis was favourable towards Mendes's vocal performance and the "important" teenage themes discussed on Wonder, such as anxiety and toxic masculinity, but thought that it is deficit of personality, criticizing the "least appealing" production, and formulaic ballads with "ponderous-verse-into-epic-chorus" structure.[24] Leah Greenblatt, writing for Entertainment Weekly, asserted that the album sees Mendes "still discovering himself in real time", feeling free, expressing sexual tension and reflecting on early fame, and picked "Call My Friends", "Dream" and "Song for No One" as the best tracks.[23] In a less favourable review, Helen Brown of The Independent wrote that Wonder chronicles "the struggles of the lonely touring musician missing his girl", and complimented the album's vintage-inspired sound, but deemed the songs unoriginal.[25] Malvika Padin, writing for Clash, noted that the album is "ambitious" and "stocked full of emotions," but also wrote that it didn't always succeed, at times "feeling too shallow for it to be as impactful as Mendes intended it to be," but called the album worth a listen.[22]Jon Caramanica of The New York Times complimented Mendes' "understanding [of] how to inflate his voice from whimper to peal," but felt that "his lyrics meander and stop short of true sentiment, and his rhythmic deliveries feel less cohesive" and that the record was "much less polished" in comparison to his previous two album releases.[29] Writing for Stereogum, Chris DeVille named Wonder Mendes' "best (or at least most interesting)" album while complimenting his growth as a songwriter, although he feels that at times the record "falls victim to the same overly broad fairytale love-story clichés."[30]
Commercial performance
Wonder debuted at number one on the Canadian Album Chart for Billboard, earning the highest sales and digital song downloads and the second-highest on-demand streams for the week. It became Mendes' fourth Canadian number-one album.[31]
Wonder debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 89,000 album-equivalent units (including 54,000 pure sales), becoming Mendes' fourth consecutive US number-one album.[32] It made Mendes the youngest male artist and second-youngest artist after Britney Spears to top the Billboard 200 with four regular studio albums. It also made him the fourth-youngest artist in history to log four number-one titles on the Billboard 200. The album's tracks earned a total of 46.92 million on-demand streams in its first week.[32][33] In its second week, the album descended to number 25 on the Billboard 200 dated December 17, 2020, with 28,300 units sold.[34] It sold 30,000 units in the week dated December 24, 2020, on the Billboard 200.[citation needed]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 50.Týden 2020 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
