I was going to ignore this song. Just let it be. All I thought of it was "a mindless stupid woman pandering song by some pretty boy with no talent. No need to waste my time on this". One day, I was talking to a friend who really likes this song and we broke into an argument and that's when I really started to realize that this song is not your ordinary Bad Song. "Treat You Better" by Shawn Mendes is a terrible song which at first glance is easy to dismiss, but upon further inspection it just gets worse and worse. The more I think about it, the more suicide sounds like a reasonable solution, so let's dive right into it.
There's no Mercy for this one. Problem number 1: It's a complete rip-off. "Treat You Better" is a carbon copy of "Stitches" (another Shawn Mendes hit song). "Stitches" was also terrible, but at the very least it can say it was somewhat original. In fact. I was intrigued the first time I heard it (until Shawn Mendes started singing and that's when I quit). The first time hearing "Treat You Better" I knew exactly what was going on. Fool me once, Mendes, but you can't full me twice. While I'm still comparing these 2 terrible songs, "Stitches" at least had had a sound that set it apart from the other songs on the radio. Mendes's guitar on "Stitches" has a clear, natural tone which truly stands out when your competition are Rappers and Hip-Hop artists. "Treat You Better" should might as well have been played on a synth. No joke, if you don't pay attention, you won't notice the difference between a guitar or a synth pretending to be a guitar.
Problem number 2: Who produced this song? That person needs to be fired. The transitions are sloppy and very dry (or rather, there are none). It simply doesn't work. The song starts with a kind of mournful/sorrow tone, a soft expression of Mendes's feelings. On the chorus, he pumps the energy and asserts himself. The transition from this soft mourning to this strong assertion is as smooth as sandpaper. That's not the worst part. After the first chorus (which in musical terms would be sung in Forte) it jumps right back into the next verse which is sung, again, softly (Piano). It feels like a car crashing into a wall: it's sudden, surprising, and very unpleasant. Could he not play the song smoothly so the editors and producers had to awkwardly paste the song together?
Problem #3: Shawn Mendes's voice is, how to put it... makes me want to bash my head with a sledgehammer. In fairness, it's not the worse thing ever and there are worse singers out there with a more successful career than him and Mendes has had a song or 2 where he sounds fairly descent. Mendes singing in "Treat You Better" is no different from a first grader throwing a temper tantrum and whining to get a toy. I'll get to the lyrics after I'm done with the musical atrocities, but basically this is a sad/frustrating song. Mendes's nasal delivery makes it sound so immature and so fake. It sounds like he is begging for attention and pity. However, the crowning achievement of the song goes to the chorus. At the end of the chorus, Mendes yells "Better than he can". That wail he calls "singing" is very out of place. It grabs your attention as you think to yourself "what did he just say?" and listen to the same screech over and over again trying to decipher the words behind that jaw dropping bad whine.
The lyrics makes me want to punch this kid in his whiny face. If the stereotype of the "pretty pop boy" and the title "Treat You Better" didn't tip you off, the song is about a girl who is with another guy and Mendes is trying to tell her that he is the better option for her.
First off, a few years ago, a trend began to pop up when a group of self proclaimed "nice guys" started voicing their outrage when women would prefer, for example, the jerk over them "gentlemen". Overtime, the only thing these "nice guys" proved is that they are as shallow as the guys they were criticizing which makes their claims of being "nice guys" insincere. "Treat You Better" reeks of this self indulging pat on the back, insecurity, and jealousy. Lyrically, the first issue is the assumption that her boyfriend is not right for her. There's a lot of trash talking to this guy but not once is there a reason given. Is he abusive? I don't know, he doesn't say. Even if he were abusive to her, or not right for her for whatever reason, his solution is "Date me instead". Whether her boyfriend is objectively awful or not, Mendes is claiming that she is in an emotional turmoil and he is strongly asserting that she should date him? That sounds a lot like emotional manipulation to me. Taking advantage of a girl's low point to get HIS satisfaction. Does that sound like a "gentleman" to you? Some might say that he is doing it "for her sake" which I will accept if someone can answer this: Why is he asking her to date him? If he cared so much for her emotional well being, he would tell her to brake up with her boyfriend. However, he would also allow her to get herself back on her feet where she can make rational decisions as he stays on the sideline for support, like a gentleman and a true friend. That's the other problem of this song. Shawn Mendes is a huge hypocrite. He claims to be a gentlemen while trash talking a girl's boyfriend giving no real justification for his claims and emotionally manipulating her to date him instead. Mendes sings about how awful this guy is and how much of a saint he is. This is not a love song, this is an anthem of Jealousy and Insecurity.
It's baffling to me that people actually find this song romantic. Why would anyone think that? Because he is Shawn Mendes: a pretty boy with money. A fragile, broken, pretty boy with loads of money from his concert and record sales. A perfect subject for women to run to him and comfort his broken little wee heart. BULLSHIT. I told myself I would never curse when writing a review but this song deserves it. "Treat You Better" is poorly written song with mediocre music, god awful delivery and poor production, and that is ignoring the fact that it is a shameless ripoff of another Shawn Mendes song. The true problem, however, lies here: Not only is Mendes emotionally manipulating the feelings and emotions of the girl in the song, he is manipulating the feelings and emotions of his audience. All for the same reason: He got what he wanted. In the end, he probably got the girl just as he got the money, loyalty, and love of millions of vulnerable fans. "Treat You Better", a song of a hypocrite manipulating a girl to get laid, hit #1 on the Pop Charts. What does this say about us as a society? As a conclusion, I would like to address the Shawn Mendes fans: You truly deserve better and I'm sure you'll find hundreds of actually talented artists who will treat you better than he did.
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