“What the hell are we dying for?”

shawn mendes revealed that his latest song What the hell are we dying for? It has more than one meaning.

The Canadian singer-songwriter released the song last week, June 9, after writing and recording it in the past 24 hours.

For the track’s artwork, Sean used a gloomy image of New York City surrounded by smoke from Canadian wildfires.

After the release of the song, many people wondered what was the meaning behind the song and some thought that it might have more than one meaning.

Fans have noticed that parts of the text refer to a romantic relationship and flashbacks with ex Camila Cabello, but there’s actually a lot more.

Shawn Mendes explains the meaning of What the Hell Are We Dying For?

In a new interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Sean reveals he wrote the song in record time, explains the many meanings behind it, and more.

,For the past year I’ve struggled to find my voice and be myself musically in the studio and even work up the courage to be in the same room with the writers or go into the booth to sing. I was in upstate New York and started hearing gossip about my relationships, my career, and my surroundings. I was in the studio and this moment of deep desperation overwhelmed me, so I finally started to feel inspired. And honestly, at the time, it felt like the first time I’d heard it in the studio in a year and a half. Just singing along to this organ and this loop that we made, the words came out spontaneously: What am I dying for? I think it’s the most succinct thing I’ve written in a long time, about so many things at once.”

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On why it was so important to release new music, Shawn Mendes said:

“I think I had a sense of urgency, of real excitement, of connectedness, this kind of feeling of ‘this is me right now’, of how I feel right now. This sense of desperation that I felt, I expressed in music. I wanted to do it. We were up in New York, the sky was orange, the air was thick and the words were flowing. And it happened. And in retrospect, it was scary. I woke up in the morning and I thought ‘Wow what did I do?’ And I think it was a good thing for me to do it for myself. I had to dive deep. Otherwise I’ll be sitting there thinking for years.”