Treat You Better…or Worse
At first glance, the song “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes comes across as a sweet, caring plea to a girl to break up with her deadbeat boyfriend. You root for the boy next door to win over the girl of his dreams from someone who does not deserve her love. It is basically the song equivalent of every chick flick you have ever seen. Unfortunately, this means it ends up relying on the same tropes as chick flicks. These tropes often paint the woman as the damsel in distress, and the man as the hero. As the story goes, the damsel is unable to save herself and requires a big, strong man to come in and save the day. And, since the hero cannot go unrewarded, she inevitably owes him her complete admiration and affection.
In this case, Mendes is the hero who knows what is best for the girl before she even knows herself. He knows, with absolute certainty, that he is the solution for this particular girl’s problems. If she would only leave her boyfriend and run away with Mendes, she would stop wasting her time and her tears. Were she to finally listen to Mendes, he could show her what love truly means and finally teach her how she should be treated. To Mendes, she is obviously a damsel in distress since she cannot choose the right man; and needs someone to give her everything she has been missing — him.
This is obviously quite problematic because of the way Mendes frames this situation. While it is generally acceptable for friends to inform each other that they are in a toxic relationship, this is not what Mendes is doing. He is not unselfishly telling this girl that her boyfriend is treating her poorly and that she does not need to put up with it. He is not empowering her, as a woman, in any way. Instead, he is affirming the idea that she needs a man to make her happy. He just thinks that she chose the wrong man. He, towards the end, basically demands that she leave her boyfriend and acts as though it is only a matter of time before she chooses him. Nowhere in his train of thought did it ever occur to him that she could break up with her boyfriend…and then remain single. He thinks that just because he is nice and would treat her right, that she owes him her love.
This song ultimately reveals that Mendes is selfish and immature with regards to his “damsel in distress.” He imposes his opinions on her, without any indication that she asked him for said opinions. Furthermore, he tries to win her over with promises that he certainly will not be able to keep. He says he will: “stop time,” “never let her down,” and that he would never need more than to wake up next to her — which are all quite impossible. Which ironically causes him to break his first promise, which is that he won’t lie to her. Maybe she would be better off without her boyfriend…and Mendes.
