Songfacts®:

• Shawn Mendes is trying to get the attention of his crush on this pining love song.
  
  I can treat you better than he can
  And any girl like you deserves a gentleman
  Tell me why are we wasting time on all your wasted time when you should be with me instead?
  
  Shawn is insistent that he can love the girl better than her current boyfriend.
• This song was co-written by Shawn Mendes, Scott Harris, and Teddy Geiger. Harris explained to Songwriter Universe the process of writing the tune. "I remember we wrote it in LA," he said. "Teddy had worked with Shawn before and Shawn was excited to get the three of us together. I've known Teddy for a while. My band actually opened up for him for six weeks one time. The vibe was immediately right. We all get along really well and it kind of came right out. It was actually a full-on reggae song until we switched the guitar part right before we recorded the demo."
• Other songs about a guy who has a crush on someone else's girlfriend include "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield, "My Best Friend's Girl" by The Cars and "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5.
• Shawn gave the first TV performance of the song at the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto, Canada on June 19, 2016.
• Shawn has known Taylor Swift since she brought him on her 1989 tour as an opener. On his 18th birthday Taylor serenaded him with this song on Snapchat.
• Shawn Mendes threw new light on this song when he said in his 2020 Netflix documentary Wonder that his back catalogue of songs are all about Camila Cabello. The pair got to know each other in the summer of 2014, when they were opening acts on Austin Mahone's tour. They first recorded together the following year on the single "I Know What You Did Last Summer," when Cabello was dating Mahone. That romance didn't end well as shortly after Mahone hooked up with Becky G, he claimed theirs was his first real relationship. On this song, is Mendes letting Cabello know that he would treat her better than Mahone?