Shawn Mendes addresses the speculation about his sexuality, saying it “felt like an intrusion” because he’s “finding it out like everyone else.”

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter addressed the topic before performing the unreleased song “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 suits you,” he sings.

“Since I was very young, there has been something about my sexuality and people have been talking about it for so long,” Mendes said in a video captured by fans. “And I think it’s a bit silly, because I think sexuality is so beautifully complex and it’s so hard to put into boxes.”

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

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

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

Mendes had previously discussed the speculation in 2016, when he was 17 years old. In a video on Snapchat, he said: “First of all, I’m not gay. Second, it shouldn’t make any difference whether I was or not. The focus should be on the music and not on my sexuality.”

Mendes’ new album, “Shawn,” will be released on November 15.