Mercy- by shawn mendes Raffi Santos

Mercy- by shawn mendes You've got a hold of me Don't even know your power I stand a hundred feet But I fall when I'm around you I'm not asking for a lot Just that you're honest with me My pride is all I got I'm saying baby Please have mercy on me Take it easy on my heart Even though you don't mean to hurt me You keep tearing me apart Would you please have mercy on me I'm a puppet on your strings  Hyperbole: He is referencing that usually he is confident and stands strong but is nervous and weak when he's around the girl. Assonance: In the words "My, pride and I" use the I sound. End rhyme: The words heart and apart rhyme Repetition: He is enforcing the fact that the girl is really effecting and hurting him. Metaphor: He is implying that it is like he is under a girl's control. Mood: energetic, determined Tone: paranoid, scared, cowering, vulnerable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZviHb3nlpY

qUESTIONS 1. Does this song tell a story? Throughout the song, Shawn Mendes talks about a girl who he has feelings for. He puts himself in a vulnerable position and is willing to do anything for this girl. All he asks for in return is that she has mercy on him, but more specifically his heart and his feelings because he is falling hard and it is causing him emotional pain. However, Shawn Mendes himself said how there are 2 ways you can interpret the song. The first being about a girl or it could be him pleading for mercy with his career and from the music industry with him being young and recently new to the industry. 2. What emotions do you feel when listening to the song? When I first listened to the song, I started off by feeling sad. As the song progresses and the beat starts picking up, it really plays off your energy and hypes you up, whilst still keeping the sad tone. Further into the song it gets more intense with the music and the song speeds up and the sadness fades and it becomes more neutral and intense then anything.

questions 3. What did you think of the song, do you like it and why? Personally I really like this song for a couple of reasons. First off the song is really catchy and Shawn Mendes is an outstanding singer. The lyrics aren’t simply just words that he are saying that sound pleasing when placed in that particular order, but the lyrics have a further emotional level that you can see if you read between the lines. 4. What do you think was Shawn's motivation for writing this song? Shawn has never actually said what his motivation/reason behind writing Mercy was, however I personally think this was based off a past relationship of his. Possibly one where his partner was very controlling and had all the power in the unhealthy relationship or a relationship where he was falling for a girl quickly and would do anything for here. Changed some things and turned the story into a charts topping song.

Questions 5. Do you believe the music/melody of the song changes the way the story is interpreted from simply just reading the lyrics as a poem? Why? Personally I think the music really lightens the lyrics, because without them the lyrics seem much darker and depressing. However when you add the music to it and the beat is changing it guides you and your emotions throughout the song and makes for a much more common interpretation then if everyone read the lyrics on their own with different tempos etc.

Tone and theme The song "Mercy" has several different tones, personally I believe that the tone of the song is paranoid, desperate and helpless. Throughout the song Shawn seems very paranoid that the girl is going to break his heart and there id nothing he can do because he is falling hard. The theme of the song is demanding because throughout the song Shawn demands that he is set free from her and that there is no way out of the situation.

3 Pictures that represent the song The third photo represents the song in my opinion because Shawn is doing everything in his power to please the girl and he is giving everything while she just keeps accepting. As he gets deeper into the relationship mship she still remains at the surface of the water. The first image represents the song because Shawn is willing to go to extreme measures and do anything for this girl no matter how crazy. The second photo represents the song because it is a man down on his knees begging for forgiveness which is very much like how in the song Shawn is begging for mercy from the girl.