Over the past week, speculation around Shawn Mendes's sexuality has been at an all-time high. And instead of shutting down rumors or ignoring the gossip altogether, the singer is taking the discourse in stride and opening up about it all mid-concert.
In the middle of his For Friends and Family Only intimate concert held in Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 28, 2024, Shawn Mendes took a minute to pause and get candid with the audience about his sexual orientation, admitting he went back and forth on whether he should comment on it during his setlist.
"I was really young when I started. I was 15 years old," Mendes began his speech while playing soothing chords on his guitar, as captured by concertgoers on TikTok. “I went right into working a lot and traveling, and it was the most beautiful thing, but the truth is that I didn't get to do a lot of 15-year-old things and discover parts of myself that you do at 15.”
"Since I was really young, there's been this thing about my sexuality, and people have been talking about it for so long," he continued. "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. 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."
Mendes then addressed his new song, "The Mountain," off his forthcoming self-titled album Shawn, releasing on November 15, 2024, which features a line about the rife speculation surrounding his sexuality. "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," Mendes sings in the song's last pre-chorus.
Addressing the crowd in Colorado, Mendes admitted that writing "The Mountain" felt "really important" to him because he could "address [his sexuality] in a way that felt close to [his] heart." He added: "I guess I'm just speaking freely now because I just want to be closer to everyone and just kind of be in my truth."
"The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that I'm just figuring it out like everyone," he continued. "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, and 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."
Of course, this isn't the first time Mendes has addressed the speculation about his sexuality. Back in 2016, he said: "[I] noticed a lot of people saying that I give them a 'gay vibe.' First of all, I'm not gay. Second of all, it shouldn't make a difference if I was or I wasn't. The focus should be on my music, not on my sexuality."
In 2018, he said that he avoids using pronouns in his music to keep things open to interpretation, and later that year, admitted that he felt pressured to be "seen" with girls to "prove to people that I'm not gay." In the same interview, he also discussed the speculation, saying: "I thought, 'You f*cking guys are so lucky I'm not actually gay and terrified of coming out.' That's something that kills people. That's how sensitive it is. Do you like the songs? Do you like me? Who cares if I'm gay?" (He has since denounced the article.)
Speaking to The Guardian in 2019, he further elaborated on the matter, clarifying that speculation was "hurtful" not because of the assumptions per se but because of how they can affect other people also navigating their sexuality. "I get mad when people assume things about me because I imagine the people who don't have the support system I have and how that must affect them," he said at the time. Earlier this year, Mendes admitted it is "hard" when "millions" comment on his love life.
