Singer Shawn Mendes says he had anxiety because of the stillness during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"That stillness brought a lot of anxiety to the surface that I had to work through and on the other side of that was a really reflective period for me where I could be like, 'Oh this is what I've been doing'," Mendes told Apple Music's Zane Lowe, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

The singer added: "This is crazy. This is what I can do. This is art. This is bigger than me. It was the first time I had the chance to even think about someone more than me. It was the first time I had enough space in my heart and my head that wasn't so consumed about how many people were caring about what I was doing."

He said that it was the first time he was quiet.

"I was able to be like, 'What is happening in this world and how do I feel about it and what can I do and where does this go from here?' That was the best gift I think I've ever, ever been given in my whole life."

He added that "the isolation and the quarantine" was "terrifying and really hard", with people around the world suffering during the pandemic.