Shawn Mendes has spoken openly about his sexuality and shared that he is “figuring it out.”
The 26-year-old singer made the comments during an intimate concert in Colorado in support of his upcoming album, Shawn with his speech captured by fans and then uploaded to social media.
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“I was very young when I started. I was 15 years old. The truth is that I couldn’t do many things as a fifteen-year-old and discover parts of myself that are done at that age,” he said on stage.
“Since I was very young, there has been this issue of my sexuality. People have been talking about it for a long time. “I think it’s a little silly because I think sexuality is such a wonderfully complex thing and it’s very difficult to pigeonhole it.”
“I’m trying to be really brave and allow myself to be human” – Shawn Mendes
The ‘Stitches’ singer added: “It was like an intrusion into something very personal to me. Something I was discovering in myself, something I had yet to discover and haven’t discovered yet.”
Mendes explained that he wrote a song called ‘The Mountain’ because it was a way to address the speculation he felt close to his heart.
“I think I’m speaking freely now because I want to be able to be closer to everyone and be in my truth,” she said during a performance of the song.
“The truth about my life and my sexuality is, man, I’m trying to figure it out like everyone else. “Sometimes I don’t know and other times I do,” he continued. “And it’s very scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about it. And I’m trying to be very brave and allow myself to be human and feel things.”
Throughout his career, Mendes, who previously dated singer Camilla Cabello, has faced immense and intrusive speculation about his sexual orientation.
The ‘In My Blood’ singer previously denied rumors that he was gay in a Snapchat post, and later expressed his frustrations over the focus on his sexuality in a 2018 interview with Rolling stone.
“I thought, ‘Damn, you guys are so lucky I’m not gay and I’m not afraid to come out,’” he told the publication at the time. “That’s something that kills people. That’s how sensible it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? “Who cares if I’m gay?”
In the lyrics of ‘The Mountain’, Mendes seems to address the speculation directly.
“You can say I’m too young. You can say I’m too old. “You can say I like girls or boys, whatever suits your style,” he sings at one point.
The song is taken from their upcoming fifth album. Shawn which will be released on November 15.