Both “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” and “Treat You Better” were written and performed by Canadian artist Shawn Mendes. These songs catapulted Mendes to stardom, since they peaked in the top ten of multiple nations.
Even though Mendes was in a committed relationship with fellow musician Camilla Cabello, the suspicions around his rumored sexuality persisted. Below, we’ll talk about his thoughts on these rumors.
Is Shawn Mendes Gay?
Shawn Mendes does not identify as gay. The Canadian musician has often denied the sexuality accusations and opened up about his frustration with them.
The birthdate of Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is August 8, 1998. At the tender age of fourteen, in 2012, Mendes started uploading cover videos on YouTube after learning guitar from instructional videos on the platform.
His 2013 Vine video cover of “As Long You Love Me” by Justin Bieber was the most popular of all of his YouTube videos, quickly amassing millions of views and fans.
Artist manager Andrew Gertler found him online after seeing his popular Vine cover songs; in 2014, Gertler signed him to Island Records. In 2014, Shawn became the youngest debut artist to have a single reach the top 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with the release of “Life of the Party” on June 26.
Ever since then, Shawn Mendes’ popularity has skyrocketed, and he is currently regarded as one of the best vocalists in the world. A plethora of his singles have gone viral and topped the charts upon their first release, including ‘Stitches,’ ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer,’ ‘Treat You Better,’ ‘Mercy,’ ‘There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,’ and ‘In My Blood,’ among countless more.
What Does Shawn Mendes Have to Say About His Sexuality?
Repeatedly, Shawn Mendes has voiced his displeasure with the persistent gay accusations around him. Mendes has consistently denied being gay in interviews when asked about the accusations, setting the record straight each time.
In an honest interview with Rolling Stone published in 2018, he confessed to wanting to prove to his fans and the media that he isn’t gay by publicly appearing with a female. He also acknowledged to staging images of himself with women.
He said, “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 further added that he also admitted to analyzing his gesture, body language, and voice due to the scrutiny he faces. He said, “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,” Shawn added, “I’d like to say I don’t care about it, but that’s not true.”
Mendes expressed his frustration with the numerous sexual orientation comments on his YouTube videos and the worry and anxiety they generated in the same interview. Not for the first time has Mendes spoken up about his sexuality; in a previous Snapchat story, he clarified that he is not gay and that his sexual orientation should not be a factor in anyone’s judgment.
The ‘Wonder’ singer revisited the vexing rumor and how his now-ex-girlfriend Camilla Cabello encouraged him to be vulnerable during an interview with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert Podcast in 2020.
According to Shawn, “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,” and he went on to say, “My anger was directed towards those people.” This is really complex. If you were gay, it would be great with you, but I’m not. You’re trying to convey the message that being gay isn’t inherently wrong. You are ill-prepared to deal with this crisis.
He continued, “I’ve realized that we just have to stop having to be experts and politicians about it, especially as a famous musician who’s a guy. I need to be really f—ing messy and say the wrong things and apologize and say the right thing after I apologize and be confused about how to respond when people say I’m gay.”
He then opened up on his sexuality and said, “Everyone’s been calling me gay since I was 15 years old. I’m not gay and I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ I had these problems with the way my voice sounded. I’m like, ‘How do I sit?’ I’m always first to cross my legs and sit with a position of this feminine style and I really suffered with that shit.”
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