"If I Can't Have You" is a song by Canadian singer

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

. It was released as the lead single (sixth overall) from the deluxe edition of Mendes' self-titled third studio album through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

on May 3, 2019. The music video was released the same day. "If I Can't Have You" has reached number one in Hungary and China, as well as the top five in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovakia, and the United States.

Background

Mendes told

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on the

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radio show that out of the 45 songs he has written in the last six months, which are stylistically "all over the place" and have "different vibes", "If I Can't Have You" was "the one consistently every time I played for myself and for friends and family was giving people that smile".

Promotion

Mendes announced the release through his social media on May 1. He shared a link to the promotional website canthaveyou.com, which redirects to his webstore and offers the single as a

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

and

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

, with each format available in three versions containing a unique voice memo from Mendes. He performed the song for the first time during ''

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'' on May 4, 2019.

Commercial performance

"If I Can't Have You" debuted at number two on both the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

and the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, behind "

Old Town Road "Old Town Road" is the debut single of American rapper Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. Lil Nas X also recorded a remix with America ...

" by

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popula ...

. It was Mendes' highest-charting hit in both countries at the time surpassing 2015's " Stitches", which peaked at number 4 in the US. "

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" became his highest-charting single later in the year.

Music video

The music video was released on May 3, 2019, via the singer's official Vevo channel on

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. A lyric video was also released on May 6, 2019.

Track listing

Each version of the 7-inch, cassette and CD single contains one of three voice memos from Mendes.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

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. *

– vocals, songwriter, producer, programmer, guitar *

Teddy Geiger Teresa Geiger (born September 16, 1988) also known by her stage name Teddy Geiger, is an American artist, songwriter and record producer. Early life Geiger was born on September 16, 1988, to Lorilyn Rizzo-Bridges and John Theodore Geiger, I. Sh ...

– songwriter, producer, drums, guitar, keyboards, programmer * Scott Harris – songwriter, additional producer, guitar * Nate Mercereau – songwriter, additional producer, guitar, bass guitar, piano *

Ojivolta Ojivolta are an American record production and songwriting duo, composed of Mark Williams and Raul Cubina. Their credits include production and co-writing for Kanye West, Playboi Carti, XXXTentacion, Lil Nas X, Justin Bieber Justin Drew ...

– songwriter, additional producer * Ray 'August Grant' Jacobs – backing vocals * Raul Cubina – drums, percussion, programmer * Ryan Svendsen – trumpet, flugelhorn * Mark Williams – guitar, keyboards, programmer * Zubin Thakkar – engineer, studio personnel * George Seara – mixer, recording engineer, studio personnel * Mike Gnocato – assistant mixer, studio personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Black-and-white music videos Island Records singles Shawn Mendes songs Songs written by Scott Harris (songwriter) Songs written by Shawn Mendes Songs written by Teddy Geiger