"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 singer. He gained a following in 2013 when he posted song covers on the video-sharing platform Vine (software), Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manage ...

. 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 Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

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

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

on the

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

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 of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standal ...

, cassette and

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to 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 ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' 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), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

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

Old Town Road "Old Town Road" is the debut mainstream single by the American rapper and singer Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. He also recorded ...

" by

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), better known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his 2018 country rap single "Old Town Road," the longest-running nu ...

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

Señorita Señorita or Senorita may refer to: Biology * Señorita banana, a banana cultivar from the Philippines * '' Oxyjulis'' (Spanish common name: ), a species of fish Film * ''Senorita'' (film), a 1927 American silent film * ''Señorita'', a 2011 fi ...

" 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

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. 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 Tidal. *

– vocals, songwriter, producer, programmer, guitar *

Teddy Geiger Teddy Geiger (born September 16, 1988) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer who first gained teen idol status with the song " For You I Will (Confidence)" in 2006. Geiger acted in the television series '' Love Monkey'' (2006) and ...

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

Ojivolta Ojivolta is an American record production and songwriting duo, composed of Mark "Oji" Williams and Raul "Volta" Cubina. Their credits include production and co-writing for Kanye West, The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, XXXTentacion, Lil Nas X, Justin Bie ...

– 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