Shawn Mendes fans rejoice: new music is coming soon.

Earlier this month, the Toronto pop star was announced as a headliner at this year's Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, his first big performance since 2022. In an Instagram post, Mendes shared his excitement, and added: "I've also been working on a new album and I can't wait to play these new songs live for you."

It's been over three years since Mendes' last album, Wonder, and while he's released a handful of singles — among them, a couple of collaborations and soundtrack contributions to Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, the animated film he starred in — it's unclear what his new album will sound like. As an artist who has incorporated rock, R&B, Latin and disco elements into his pop earworms, Mendes has shown a real appetite for stretching the boundaries of his music.

As we wait for a single to come out, his recent string of releases may offer some hints at what's to come. Below, we consider four possible directions Mendes can take his music next.

Mendes' last album, 2020's Wonder, was largely inspired by his relationship with then-girlfriend Camila Cabello. When the couple broke up the following year, it inspired a pair of breakup singles: 2021's somber "It'll Be Okay," where Mendes reveals, "I start to imagine a world where we don't collide/ It's making me sick, but we'll heal and the sun will rise," and 2022's more upbeat and anthemic "When You're Gone." Perhaps those tracks were enough to exorcise his feelings of heartbreak, or maybe he has some more breakup songs left in him. After all, Mendes and Cabello sparked rumours of a reunion just last year when they were spotted kissing at Coachella. One has to wonder if he has more to say, and if he'll build an entire album thematically around the idea of moving on after losing, as Mendes sings on "When You're Gone," "the only girl that matters."

While Mendes grew up as an atheist, he has since transformed into a more spiritual person who is "sure there's a God," as he explained on the Man Enough podcast in 2021. In that interview, Mendes says watching performances by Atlanta Christian collective Maverick City Music on YouTube brought him to tears, making him feel a sense of home he had never felt before. A year later, he was spotted in Los Angeles attending a Churchome service with fellow Canadian pop star, and former collaborator, Justin Bieber, shortly after both singers cancelled their tours to take mental health breaks. And just last year, he was featured on the gospel single, "Witness Me," alongside Jacob Collier, Stormzy and Kirk Franklin. At the beginning of this year, Mendes posted a video on his Instagram, of himself humming as he played the harmonium, potentially an extension of his spiritual work, which includes listening to mantras every day. Will any of these influences find their way onto his new album?

Philanthropy has always been an integral part of Mendes' artist mission. In 2019, he launched the Shawn Mendes Foundation, which focuses on youth-related causes related to healthcare, sustainability, mental health, human rights, anti-bullying and education. And before he cancelled his Wonder world tour, he had partnered with environmental nonprofit Reverb.org to reduce emissions and offset the tour's carbon footprint. His social consciousness even seeped into his music when he released "What the Hell Are We Dying For?" last year, a single that was paired with cover art showing New York City covered in orange smoke from the Canadian wildfires. While the song itself fuses climate anxiety ("Smoke in the air, the city's burning down") with more ruminations over a breakup ("If you're not mine and I'm not yours/ What the hell are we dying for?"), it's clear that Mendes is conscious of some of the world's most pressing issues. With things like climate change becoming more urgent, Mendes could channel his music into meaningful calls to action.

Mendes' biggest hits have been emotionally rousing pop anthems, such as "Treat You Better" and "There's Nothing Holding Me Back." Since the release of Wonder, he's experimented more with his sound, but still returned to pop on singles like the sun-kissed "Summer of Love" and the pop-rock blended "When You're Gone." While we support Mendes' sonic explorations, we do admittedly miss the straight-ahead pop songs that joyously fill his stadium shows. Here's hoping, no matter which direction he goes in next, that he can add a few more of those moments to his live arsenal.