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Shawn Mendes Says He's Still 'Finding Out' His Sexuality: 'Feels Really Scary'

  • Shawn Mendes opened up about his sexuality during his Colorado concert on Monday, October 28
  • “There's been this thing about my sexuality since I was really young and people have been talking about it for so long,” the Canadian musician told his fans in a video shared on TikTok
  • “The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that I'm just figuring it out like everyone else,” Mendes added

Shawn Mendes opens up about his sexuality.

On Monday, October 28, the 26-year-old “Mercy” singer spoke to fans between songs while performing his tour date for “For Friends and Family” at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.

Mendes has performed his upcoming song “The Mountain” at his recent concerts, a song whose lyrics feature the singer discussing his sexuality.

“Some days I have a change of heart / You can say what you need to say,” he sings in video footage shared on TikTok. “You can say I’m too young / You can say I’m too old / You can say I like girls or boys / Whatever suits you.”

The Canadian musician elaborated on the conversation during the Colorado show.

“There's been this thing about my sexuality since I was really young, and people have been talking about it for so long,” he told the crowd in a clip shared by a fan on TikTok. “I think it's kind of silly because I think sexuality is such a beautiful, complex thing and it's so hard to just put it in boxes.”

Shawn Mendes.

MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty


“It always felt to me like an intervention into something very personal, something I was figuring out within myself, something I hadn't yet discovered and still have yet to discover,” the singer added, emphasizing that he “now speaks freely”. “so that he can be “closer to everyone.”

Mendes continued, “The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that I'm just figuring it out like everyone else. Sometimes I don't really know, but sometimes I do. And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about that.”

“I try to be really brave and just allow myself to be human and feel things. And that's all I really want to say about it at the moment,” the star – who performs new music from his upcoming self-titled album LP, out November 15th – continued.

Shawn Mendes.

Wagner Meier/Getty


Elsewhere on Monday's show, Mendes also discussed his dating life, stressing that he wanted to take the “pressure” off of finding “the one.”

“When you're single, there's pressure to look for 'The One', who is 'The One'? TikTok video.

“I just tried to take the pressure off whoever it is and just allow myself to experience the love that is happening in this moment, wherever and however that is happening. Man, we all need a little cuddle, “A little hug,” he added before singing his song “In Between.”

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Shawn Mendes at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.

Udo Salters/Patrick McMullan via Getty


Mendes – who has dated Camila Cabello on and off for years and has been publicly linked to Sabrina Carpenter in the past – previously discussed rumors about his sexuality while speaking to Dax Shepard on his page Armchair expert Podcast in 2020.

“It was so, so frustrating for me because there were some people in my life that I was very, very close to who were gay and in the closet,” Mendes told Shepard at the time.

He continued: “And I felt this real anger at these people. This is such a tricky thing. You want to say, 'I'm not gay, but it would be fine if I were gay – but there's nothing wrong with that.' I'm gay, but I'm not.” You don't really know how to react to the situation.