Anthony Wilson

In one of Shawn Mendes‘ new songs “The Mountain,” he sings, “You can say I’m too young/ You can say I’m too old/ You can say I like girls or boys/ Whatever fits your mold.” And according to Shawn, when it comes to his sexuality, he’s not exactly sure himself.

As captured in a fan’s TikTok at his concert on Oct. 28 in Colorado, Shawn tells the crowd, “Since I was really young, there’s been this thing about my sexuality and people have been talking about it for so long. And 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.”

He goes on to say that such speculation “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.”

He then adds, “The real truth about my life and about my sexuality is that, man, I’m just figuring it out like everyone and I don’t really know sometimes, and I know other times. And 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.”

“That’s all I really wanna say about that for now,” he concluded, before singing “The Mountain.” 

When he was 17, Shawn denied he was gay, adding that it shouldn’t make a difference whether he is or isn’t. 

Shawn’s new album Shawn is out Nov. 15.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.