‘I’m just figuring it out’ | Shawn Mendes opens up about sexuality, public’s speculations at Red Rocks concert

DENVER — During his time on the Red Rocks stage Monday night, singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes opened up about his sexuality, a topic that has been at the center of much public speculation since his rise to fame.

A video captured by a concert-goer shows the 26-year-old Canadian artist take a moment to speak to the crowd in the middle of performing “The Mountain,” an unreleased song that touches on people’s long-held assumptions about his sexuality, which Mendes has briefly discussed in the past.

The video taken Monday night shows Mendes pausing his performance of the song right before a verse that directly addresses the public’s speculations about his sexual orientation. He then admitted to the audience that he’d thought about whether he would share words at that particular point in the set before discussing the impact of stepping into the spotlight at a young age with his fans.

“I was really young when I started, I was 15 years old,” Mendes said as he strummed his guitar. “I kinda went right into, like, working a lot and traveling, and it was the most beautiful thing, but the truth is, is that, I didn’t get to, kind of, do a lot of 15-year-old things and discover parts of myself that you do at 15.”

The singer went on to talk to the crowd about the fact that his sexuality has been talked about for many years, highlighting the effects of this. 

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

Though Mendes has kept his dating life a relatively private matter, he’s only been publicly linked to women, including fellow singers Camila Cabello and Sabrina Carpenter. However, this has not stopped people from speculating about his sexual orientation, which is something he sings about in “The Mountain,” set to be released as part of his fifth studio album, “Shawn,” on Nov. 15. 

“You know, writing this song felt very important to me because it felt like a moment where I could address it in a way that felt close to my heart,” Mendes says. “And, uh, yeah, I guess I’m just, I’m just speaking freely now because I just want to be able to be closer to everyone and just kind of be in my truth.”

Mendes told the crowd that his truth is still a work in progress.

“The real truth about, about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I’m just, I’m just figuring it out like everyone,” he said. “And I don’t really know sometimes, and I know other times, and it feels really scary because we live in a society that just 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 uh, yeah, I just, that’s all I really wanna say about that, for now.”

The artist then wrapped up his performance of “The Mountain,” starting with the verse he left off on: “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.”