Shawn Mendes is done holding back as he embarks on the “really scary” journey of “figuring out” his sexuality and opening up about it to the world.
The 26-year-old “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” singer shared with the crowd Monday at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre that the public’s preoccupation with his sexuality is “an intrusion,” but he’s “trying to be really brave.”
“Since I was really young, there’s been this thing … about my sexuality and people have been talking about it for so long,” he told the audience attending his For Friends and Family Only Tour, as seen in a video shared on TikTok.”I think it’s kind of silly because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing and it’s so hard to put into boxes.”
“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 Canadian singer-songwriter added, saying he was choosing to speak “freely now” in order to live “in [his] truth.”
Mendes’ remarks followed a performance of his upcoming song “The Mountain,” which includes lyrics that address the speculation “in a way that felt close to [his] heart.”
The crowd erupted into applause when Mendes sang the lyric, “You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever fits your mold.”
“The real truth about my life and my sexuality is, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone. And I don’t really know sometimes and I know other times,” Mendes said, earning more cheers from the crowd. “It feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that. And I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things.”
Mendes previously dated singer Camilla Cabello on and off for years, and was linked to Sabrina Carpenter in early 2023.