Kiss the Boy is now available on iTunes and streaming services.
Keiynan Lonsdale has just released an unapologetically queer anthem, accompanied by an adorable lyric video featuring LGBTQ couples.
Kiss the Boy is an smooth R&B number on which the Aussie star sings: “If you want to kiss the boy, then you better kiss the boy right now. You ain’t got to be afraid, of the words you want to say right now.”
On the inspiration for the track, Keiynan revealed: “The teaser for Love, Simon had dropped on YouTube and then for some reason, I don’t know why, the song ‘Kiss the Girl’ from The Little Mermaid popped up on my feed.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so funny. I wonder if I can do a cover of that song, but change it to about a boy?’ It didn’t work, but I was thinking about the Love, Simon trailer and I was really happy. Eventually, I got the hook, ‘If you wanna kiss the boy/ Then you better kiss the boy right now.'”
Keiynan said the song was one of the easiest he’s ever written, because it’s based on his own life experiences: “I had so much to draw off, with the movie, my own personal life and every relationship I’d been in and other people’s stories that they’d told me.”
Kiss the Boy will appear on the star’s forthcoming debut album, which is expected to be released later this year.
Whether the album will play host to other queer anthems, Keiynan said: “At first, I was like, ‘I don’t wanna force this kind of thing.’ But that’s my reality.”
Listen to Kiss the Boy below.
The 26-year-old actor came out last year in a heartwarming post. He decided that he had to “embrace who I am” and “not faking shit anymore,” telling his fans that he likes both men and women.
“I’ve become bored of being insecure, ashamed, scared… no one should feel like that about themselves, especially when there is so much good life to live,” he posted. “We have the power to change that outcome ourselves and if you come out and you’re proud of it and you’re proud of yourself then people are proud for you. It’s infectious.”
Keiynan currently stars in the gay romance, Love, Simon, alongside Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Miles Heizer and Logan Miller.
Since its release, the film has received widespread acclaim from critics and fans of the book, and is historically significant as the first major-studio teen rom-com to feature a gay protagonist.
He’s also on the cover of the new issue of Gay Times, where he revealed that he was still in the closet while filming Love, Simon: “I wasn’t even out to my castmates until the last day of shooting. I was still so nervous to be my true self even on a movie set with a gay director, a gay love story, and a fully supportive environment.”
You can purchase Keiynan’s cover for our April issue here.
It also features exclusive interviews with Gus Kenworthy, Ricky Martin, Jeremy Corbyn and Munroe Bergdorf.