Shawn Mendes - Youth

“Youth” is the title of a single by Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes. The track also features American singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes. In the song, the singers (Mendes and Khalid) utter words of true inspiration to the youth. They inspire them to keep their heads up and not let the horrible things unfolding in the world break them or take away their youth.

“You can’t take my youth away

This soul of mine will never break”

Mendes and Khalid joined forces to write this song in the aftermath of two terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom – the 2017 London Bridge attack and the Manchester Arena bombing.

The Manchester Arena bombing was a terrorist attack that took place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom on May 22, 2017. The bombing happened just after a concert held by American singer Ariana Grande in the same venue. In all, the attack claimed the lives of 23 people (including that of the terrorist) and left 139 others injured. The majority of the victims of the bombings were children.

The 2017 London Bridge attack occurred a few weeks after the Manchester Arena bombing. This attack took place in London and claimed the lives of 11 people, including three of the terrorists. It also left 48 people with various degrees of injuries.

Mendes, who was so saddened by these vicious attacks, decided to write something about how they made him feel. He later got in touch with his friend Khalid and began working on “Youth”.

In all, the song sends one powerful message to listeners. It tells them that despite the heinous acts of the wicked, hate will never ever win.

Here are the words of Mendes’ himself regarding the song:

Troye Sivan - Youth

The idea of getting into a relationship when you’re young, and waking up when you’re 25, and you’ve given all of your young years to a particular person, that was super romantic and cool to me. And we started writing a song about leaving everything and running away and having absolutely no idea where you were going, or what you were going to do in the future, or whether this person is just going to be with you for two days and just be a fling, or is it going to be someone who you are going to spend the rest of your life with. And having all of those questions and still not caring about any of the answers because you’re young and you don’t have any responsibilities.

Prevalence

1. What was the number and percentage of Australians who are recognised as youth?

2. Outline some of the many positive contributions youth make to society.

Diversity

• The individual diversity of youth is marked by various milestones that exist within the group, ranging from puberty, to age of consent, adulthood, continuation of education, entry into training, full-time employment, moving out of home, buying renting a house, marriage and possibly child rearing.

• Individual youths might vary with the group due to different person, family, cultural, religious, education and workplace roles and responsibilities.

What determines whether an individual is part of a sub-group?

Determine how individuals within the group Youth may vary.

Terminology

Activity:

1. Identify the terminology used by yourself and others to describe youth

2. Construct a table and categorise each term as positive or negative

3. How does the terminology used affect the opinions of youth held by those in older age groups?

4. Discuss the impact that positive and negative terminology might have on individuals within the group.

• The community uses both positive and negative terminology to describe youth. Discuss the impact this might have on the wellbeing of individuals within the group (6 marks).