Have you heard Shawn Mendes‘ new single yet? Well, not to spoil it for you, but “If I Can’t Have You” is a total bop that’s been stuck in our heads all day. Of course, the “Lost in Japan” singer sounds absolutely perfect on it, but what if we told you that he almost passed on the song altogether and gave it to another artist? One by the name of Dua Lipa, perhaps?

It’s true, you guys. During a FaceTime session with Zane Lowe for a segment on Beats 1 for Apple Music, the 20-year-old confessed that, at first, he wasn’t planning on keeping the song for himself. In fact, he had already prepped a recording on his phone to send to the “One Kiss” singer before ultimately changing his mind.

So what was it that made the “In My Blood” crooner realize that he needed to save this particular track for himself? Interestingly enough, all he had to do was play it again a few weeks later!

Yup! After changing everything from guitar to piano to suit Dua’s style, the pop star recalled sitting back down with the song and automatically knowing he couldn’t possibly pass it off to someone else.

“A couple of weeks later I’m in the studio with Scott and I’m playing it again, and I’m like, ‘Dude, this is really serious. This is like actually a serious song. I don’t think I can ask Dua if she wants to sing it.’ he revealed. ‘Though that would’ve been incredible — I said, ‘I think I gotta go all the way with this.'”

While we agree that the “New Rules” songstress would’ve crushed this record, we’re so glad the Grammy Award nominee decided to keep it. And TBH, his decision to make it the first single off his upcoming album was a pretty easy one.

“In the last 6 months I wrote about 45 songs and they’re all over the place and different vibes,” he said. “This is the one consistently every time I played for myself and for friends and family was giving people that smile.”

Honestly, that makes a ton of sense — especially considering the fact that we currently have it on repeat and also can’t stop smiling. We don’t know about you, but this song is just making us even more excited for what’s to come, and dare we say, this might be his best work yet!

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