LOS ANGELES - MTV is to bring back Unplugged as the station continues its efforts to return to its music channel roots. The Unplugged series saw pop stars perform stripped-down acoustic versions of their songs in front of a live audience.

It was particularly popular in the 1990s but was wound down in 2009. Now, MTV plans to bring it back from Sept. 8 - with Shawn Mendes the first singer to appear in the reboot.

Previous artists to do Unplugged sets include Nirvana, Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, Adele, Mariah Carey and Katy Perry.

"At MTV, the brand equity is still so strong," MTV's Armani Duncan, told Variety. "It gives an opportunity to bring back nostalgia and also recruit an entirely new consumer who may not know what Unplugged was because they weren't born."

Mendes, who will record his set in Los Angeles, said he was drawn to the Unplugged brand after watching a clip from Pearl Jam's 1992 show.

"It wasn't so much about the commercial, showman side of it - it was really about the music," he said.

The revival comes after MTV announced it would bring back TRL (Total Request Live).

TRL, a video countdown series that was hosted by Carson Daly in the early noughties, will return on Oct. 2 - nearly a decade after the show's original run ended. - Agencies