TORONTO — Two quintessential heartthrobs of Canadian pop music are joining forces for their first duet.
Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber took to social media with plans to unleash their song collaboration “Monster” on Friday.
It’s the first time the Pickering, Ont.-raised Mendes, 22, has released a song with his contemporary, but the two have plenty in common.
Bieber, 26, grew up a few hours away from Mendes’ family.
He was born in London, Ont., and raised in Stratford, where he became a local celebrity and eventually an international star through YouTube in the late aughts.
Several years later, Mendes built his own name on the now-defunct social platform Vine after a 2013 video of him covering Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me” went viral.
They both saw meteoric rises to global fame in their adolescent years, fuelled by international pop hits and ardent fan bases.
The pair teased “Monster” on social media with a 13-second clip that didn’t feature either of their vocals.
The song arrives as Mendes prepares to release his latest album “Wonder” on Dec. 4. He’ll also be the focus of the Netflix documentary “Shawn Mendes: In Wonder,” due out on Nov. 23.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2020.