“That's The Dream” By Shawn Mendes, Explained

Shawn Mendes has nothing to hide on his folk rock-leaning fifth album, Shawn, which arrived Nov. 15. The record was born from “letting go of, and remembering who I am,” he explained in an Instagram post. Fittingly, the cover art — a black and white photo of the singer posed shirtless and staring intently into the camera — promises new levels of candidness and growth mined over the four years since 2020’s Wonder.

Throughout the buzzing, acoustic-driven track list, the 26-year-old makes good on that vow while adopting a new and folksy sonic sheen. He tackles mental health, purpose, and relationships between Leonard Cohen covers, stacked humming choruses, and the occasional kick drum. But while Mendes ditched synths for harmonica and mandolin, the love-song pro didn’t abandon his heart, as evidenced by the swaying and tightlipped third track, titled “That’s the Dream.”

Through the dreamy and mid-tempo tune’s lyrics — co-written with Mike Sabath, Eddie Benjamin, and Scott Harris — Mendes approaches hopeless romanticism with refreshing realism. In the opening verse, he celebrates a lengthy relationship with an unnamed lover — “It’s been this way since 17 / The highs and lows and in-betweens, my love” — but expresses doubts with “We said forever ever since / We give a lot, but do we give enough?”

While his past work centered on unyielding affection (“If I Can’t Have You”) and romantic rendezvouses (“Lost in Japan”), the song’s soft chorus finds Mendes lowering his expectations to meet reality. “I know we made our promises / But promises are hard to keep / I don’t know if it’s meant to be,” its lyrics go, before he optimistically admits: “But ooh, ooh, ooh, that’s the dream.”

In the second verse, Mendes clarifies the relationship’s standing as he prepares to attend “this wedding in a week” but “can’t believe you won’t be there with me.” As the lyrics reveal, this meditation on their future was spurred by a separation that made him feel “like a shadow of myself.” And while the absence is palpable, certainty seems to allude him.

Still, the singer leaves the story open-ended, tacking on a question to himself in the final chorus: “Why’d I have to go and leave / When I know nothing good comes easily?” Though Mendes can’t definitively answer whether it’s “meant to be,” the tune’s buoyant production hints at a hopefulness. At the very least, he’s not given up the dream yet.