‘Saturday Night Live’ music: Shawn Mendes performs ‘Mercy,’ ‘Treat You Better’

“Saturday Night Live” welcomed Shawn Mendes as the musical guest for this weekend’s show, and when it comes to commercial artists, he’s the most popular one they’ve had in a while. His social-media following is substantial, and as a result of that, he probably was a welcome get for NBC thanks to the Twitter mentions and shares.

So how was his actual music? The first song that he performed on the night was “Mercy,” a song that we were admittedly unfamiliar with going into the show. That’s not meant as a slam against Shawn; we’re just not in his typical consumer base, and the majority of his music appeals to people who are either teenagers or in their early-to-mid-twenties. It’s a catchy song! It was nice to see some musicianship from him, and he performed the song well in terms of communicating to the audience.

Do we think this performance will help his album sales? It is possible, but at the same time he’s the sort of artist who doesn’t need the exposure; he’d be just fine either way, but performing on this show is largely the icing on the cake.

Second song – Mendes came out for a performance of “Treat You Better,” a song that we’re actually rather familiar with. It’s got a reasonably catchy melody, but more than that it was a chance to show off more of his versatility on the guitar.

If there is a reason to be critical of these performances, it is probably as a result of some of the lack of a super-electric production. The “SNL” stage is notoriously small, but we do like to imagine that there could have been a little bit more done with it in order for him to shine and stand out further.

Interested in getting some additional news regarding “Saturday Night Live”? Then be sure to head over to the link here right away! (Photo: NBC.)