Have mercy! Shawn Mendes has never looked better as he stripped it down for his latest photo shoot with Flaunt.

Besides showing off his good looks and killer body, the 18-year-old “Treat You Better” singer also opened up about some personal subjects in his adolescent, rockstar life. Read what he had to say below.

On love and relationships:

“Love is probably the strongest emotion that you can feel. It’s very natural—and I wouldn’t want to say easy—but natural and comfortable to write about, and there’s so many different forms of it, millions of layers, you could write forever about it.”

On staying grounded:

“If you have good intentions and your heart is in the right place then you’re gonna be okay, I’m trying to stay as real as I possibly can.”

On his songwriting process:

“The second you start trying to write about things that other people want to hear, it’s not as honest as it should be.”

On family:

“My family, growing up, all my cousins, all of us, we all spoke about how we were feeling, it wasn’t a hide your emotions type family.”

On being a “mischievous” kid:

“I don’t know. My friends and I would long board around, skateboard around, regular teenager guy things to do. … I’ve never lit a mailbox on fire, but, okay, I can’t say I’ve been perfect, but I’ve been okay.”

On growing up in the public eye:

“Having people watch you and judge you on everything you do—it makes it a lot harder. It’s definitely made me grow up faster than I would have. I feel like, what? 23 sometimes in an 18 year-old-body.”

Mendes Army, have you picked up your copy of Flaunt’s latest issue? Let us know at @CelebMix!

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