Shawn Mendes says he's 'coming out' with his sexuality and speculation is 'such an intrusion': 'It feels really scary'

Shawn Mendes is addressing speculation about his sexuality, saying it “felt like such an intrusion” because he was “putting it out like everybody else.”

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter spoke about the matter before performing unreleased track “The Mountain” during a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado on Monday night. According to fan footage of the song, “The Mountain” appears to have been inspired by rumors surrounding Mendes' sexuality. “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,” he sings.

“Since I was really young, I've had this thing about my sexuality and people have been talking about it for so long,” Mendes said in the video captured by fans. “And I think it's kind of silly because I think sexuality is a pretty complicated thing and it's very hard to just put it in a box.”

Mendes continued that the speculation “always felt to me like an intrusion into something very personal, something I found within myself, something I had yet to discover and have yet to discover.”

Mendes said of “The Mountain” that “it was really important to me to write this song because it felt like a moment where I could address it in a way that felt close to my heart.”

He added, “The real truth about my life and my sexuality is that, man, I'm figuring it out like everybody else and I really don't know sometimes, and I know other times. And it feels really scary because we live in a society that has a lot to say about it, and I'm really trying to be brave and allow myself to be a person and feel things.”

Mendes previously addressed the speculation in 2016, when he was 17 years old. In a video posted on Snapchat, he said: “First of all, I'm not gay. Second, it wouldn't make any difference if I was or wasn't. The focus should be on the music, not my sex.

Mendes' new album, “Shawn,” is set to be released on November 15