Culture

Shawn Mendes says he’s still ‘figuring out’ his sexuality: ‘I don’t know sometimes’

By Sam Damshenas

29th October 2024

Shawn Mendes has once again addressed ongoing rumours about his sexuality.

At the Colorado show of his For Friends And Family Tour (28 October), the Canadian singer took a brief pause to reflect on the viral lyrics in his new song ‘The Mountain’, which are as follows: “You can say I like girls or boys, whatеver fits your mould.”

Mendes highlighted to the audience that “people have been talking about [my sexuality]” since he was “really young”.

“I think it’s kinda silly because I think sexuality is such a beautifully complex thing and it’s so hard to just put into boxes,” he said.

“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 creation of ‘The Mountain’ was “very personal” for Mendes as it felt like the right moment for him to address the rumours “in a way that felt close to my heart”: “I’m just speaking freely now because I just wanna be able to be close to everyone and be in my truth.”

To a rapturous applause from the audience, Mendes said the truth about his sexuality is that he’s “just figuring it out like everyone”, adding: “I don’t really know some times and I know other times. It feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that.

“I’m trying to be really brave and just allow myself to be a human and feel things. Yeah, that’s all I really wanna say about that for now.”

Mendes has been forced to address speculation surrounding his sexuality on various occasions throughout the years.

In 2018, he told Rolling Stone that memes and ‘jokes’ about him being closeted, as well as constant analysis over his gestures, led to him rewatching interviews to evaluate his mannerisms.

“In the back of my heart, I feel like I need to go be seen with someone — like a girl — in public, to prove to people that I’m not gay,” he shared.

“Even though in my heart I know that it’s not a bad thing. There’s still a piece of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me.”

The following year, he said the rumours are “hurtful” in an interview with The Guardian. Speaking with the same publication in 2020, he explained how there’s a “desperation” for him to come out as gay, calling it “ridiculous”.

“I got upset because I know people who are gay who haven’t come out and I know the suffering they experience because of that,” he said. “It’s just completely ignorant and insensitive of people to be on that shit.”

Watch Shawn Mendes discuss his ongoing journey with his sexuality in the video below.