Shawn Mendes wrote 'There's Nothing Holding Me Back' about a fictional character he "fell in love" with.

The 19-year-old star has revealed his hit song was inspired by a female character in a movie script, which he read when he was auditioning for a part.

Speaking about his hit track, he told MTV News: "I wrote the song actually about a girl in a movie script that I read. I was going to act in a movie and I fell in love with the girl character, and so I wrote a song about her. I mean, it'd be cool if it was a real girl."

It comes after the 'Treat You Better' hitmaker teased he was working on new music.

He shared: "I've been listening to some old school rockers; I've listened to a lot of Michael Jackson, and just [am] trying to explore a little bit. I think the album is gonna be not just one particular thing - it's gonna be a kind of exploration of music ...

"We're trying to plan everything so that there's time to make music, too. I'll be writing and recording a lot on the road. I want to make sure I have a good amount of time to create the next album. I think if you're creating music and you love the song, holding it back is just doing it an injustice. Sometimes when the song is right for that time period it's just kinda bad to let it wait and then when you do release it eight months down the road, it's not the same."