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Shawn Mendes Breaks Silence on Rumors About His Sexuality: ‘I’m Just Figuring It Out Like Everyone’
Shawn Mendes is speaking his truth after enduring years of rumors about his sexuality.
The “Mercy” singer, 26, broke his silence on the speculation while introducing his new song “The Mountain” during his For Friends and Family tour concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on Monday, October 28. The song, which he has performed at recent shows ahead of its November 15 release as part of his self-titled fifth album, was inspired by the ongoing conversations about his sexuality.
“Since I was really young, there’s been this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it for so long,” he said, as seen in video footage shared by Pop Base on X. “I think it’s kind of silly because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing, and it’s so hard to just put into boxes.”
Shawn continued, “It always felt like such an intrusion on something very personal to me, something that I was figuring out in myself, something that I had yet to discover, and still have yet to discover.”
The musician noted that writing “The Mountain” helped him address the rumors in “a way that’s close to my heart.”
“I guess I’m just speaking freely now because I just want to be closer to everyone,” Shawn added. “The real truth about my life and sexuality is that, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone. I don’t really know sometimes and I know other times. It feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that.”
He concluded, “I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things. And that’s all I really want to say about that for now.”
In “The Mountain,” Shawn weighs in on the sexuality rumors and expresses the uncertainty that he has felt.
“Some days I have a change of heart/ You can say what you need to say,” he sings. “You can say I’m too young/ You can say I’m too old/ You can say I like girls or boys/ Whatеver fits your mold/ You can say I’m a fool/ You can say I’m a dreamer/ You can say I’m too far gonе/ But I feel never better/ So call it what you want.”
The Canada native, who dated Camila Cabello on and off for years and was also linked to Sabrina Carpenter, previously opened up to Dax Shepard on his “Armchair Expert” podcast in 2020 about not knowing how exactly to approach the sexuality speculation.
“It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very, very close to, who were gay and in the closet,” Shawn explained. “And I felt like this real anger for those people. It’s such a tricky thing. You want to say, ‘I’m not gay, but it’d be fine if I was gay — but also there’s nothing wrong with being gay, but I’m not.’ You don’t really know how to respond to the situation.”
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