Singer Declan McKenna on ditching labels: "I'm here to be experimented with"

Declan McKenna has opened up about his sexuality in an interview with Attitude.

Ahead of the release of his debut album, Declan told Attitude that he doesn’t want to define his sexuality at this moment in time.

“I’m young. I’m here to be experimented with,” he says, before realising the somewhat filthy implication. “Gross! That didn’t come out right. Jesus…

“I don’t know, I’m seeing. I could put a label on it if you want, but at the minute I’m learning about a lot of things.”

Even though his friends put a little pressure on him to define his sexuality, Declan is happy to not label himself for now. “Things are so much better than they were even 10 years ago. People can be like, ‘I’m just going to find out’.”

“Are you sure you’re not being coy about whether you like girls or boys because it doubles your fan base?”Attitude asks; it never hurts sales to keep ‘em guessing, right Declan? “Ha ha. Um no, this is me,” he says.

Declan released the song ‘Paracetamol’ last year, which was inspired by the suicide of transgender teen Leelah Alcorn.

In 2014, after facing rejection from her friends and family and being subjected to sessions with “biased” Christian therapists, Leelah was killed after deliberately stepping out into the road.

“It’s devastating to hear about something like that,” Declan says, his elfin features suddenly tense with fury. “It’s heartbreaking, it’s horrific. I wanted to say something.”

Declan’s album What Do You Think About The Car? is out July 21 on Columbia Records.

Read our full interview with Declan in the July issue of Attitude – out now. Buy in print, subscribe or download.

Singer Declan McKenna on ditching labels: “I’m here to be experimented with”

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