Shawn Mendes Canceled His Tour & Explained Why He’s Taking “Time To Heal”

If you’ve been looking forward to Shawn Mendes’ tour resuming after he announced he was postponing shows July 8, the “Stitches” singer has an update for fans — but no, he’s not returning to the stage just yet. Days before he was set to make his return to the Wonder tour with a July 31 stop in Toronto (his hometown), Mendes took to Instagram to announce that the remainder of the concerts would be canceled.

“I started this tour excited to finally get back to playing live after a long break due to the pandemic, but the reality is I was not at all ready for how difficult touring would be after this time away,” Mendes wrote in his July 27 Instagram post. “After speaking more with my team and working with an incredible group of health professionals, it has become more clear that I need to take the time I’ve never taken personally, to ground myself and come back stronger.”

Mendes acknowledged the fans who “have been waiting so long to see these shows,” and thanked them for their support. “I promise I will be back as soon as I’ve taken the right time to heal,” he added. While the musician didn’t delve into specifics about “the toll” of touring, he did discuss mental health in his earlier (now-deleted) July 8 message — writing that he’d “hit a breaking point,” and returned to touring too soon. “I need to take some time to heal and take care of myself and my mental health, first and foremost.”

In his latest message, Mendes also assured fans that the cancelation “doesn’t mean [he] won’t be making new music,” an endeavor he was already working on before the Wonder tour. In March, he shared a behind-the-scenes look at writing “When You’re Gone,” and seemingly acknowledged the influence of his breakup with Camila Cabello.

“When you’re like, breaking up with someone, you, like, think it’s the right thing — you don’t realize all the sh*t that comes after it,” he said. “Which is, like, who do I call when I’m, like, in a panic attack? Who do I call when I’m, like, f*cking on the edge? I think that’s the reality that kind of hit me. It’s like, oh, I’m on my own now ... and I hate that, you know? That’s my reality, you know?”

That same month, he also told Billboard he was “writing a ton.”