British singer and songwriter Calum Scott recently opened up about the heartbreak and loneliness he felt as a teen after coming out as gay when he was 13. The You Are The Reason singer spoke with Metro magazine explaining how his friends completely abandoned him saying,
“I told my friends and was totally abandoned. So I understand the pain that comes with being misunderstood and not feeling like you’re part of anything.”
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The rejection he faced inspired his new single, Boys in the Street. “The beautiful thing about the way that the song is crafted is because it talks about that pain and then it starts to get a bit better,” he said. The Where Are You Now singer “had already told his parents and they accepted him, [but] the rejection from his friends left him questioning everything.” (PinkNews) The former Britian’s Got Talent winner commented,
“It was very innocent for me at the time but then because I felt like I was different from them, all of a sudden I started scrutinizing myself, got really down on myself to a point where I felt like I had to tell somebody and I’m a total mummy’s boy, so I trusted my mum.”
The somber lyrics illustrate the pain and isolation the No Matter What singer felt,
Tried to change me
Say I’m embarrassing my country
How could I do this to my family? Do I wanna grow up being lonely?
He’d say, we’ve worked for our money, we put you in school
Is this how you repay us? Do you think this is cool?
My son, stop kissing boys in the street My son, stop kissing boys in the street
The 33-year-old shot to superstardom after winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2015. His audition, singing a stripped-down version of Robyn’s Dancing On My Own, has racked up over 359 million views on YouTube. Scott publicly came out as gay in 2016 and he just released his second album, Bridges on June 17th. The album title comes from an intensely poignant song documenting a particularly dark and desperate period in Calum’s life. The album ultimately uncovers an unlikely hope in the darkness, delicate alchemy that echoes his newfound self-assurance in his role as a lyrical storyteller.
You can watch the video for Boys in the Street below.
Imagine being gay back in the 1970’s and 80’s. It was a hard time and we of that generation paved the way for the younger generation. I don’t know the relevance of a gay man gaining custody of his two children in the early 80’s. Social workers came into my home and inspected to make sure the accommodations were suitable for my son and daughter. I was awarded full permanent custody. I lived in Ohio and had to travel to California for the court case. Surprising is that an openly gay man (And partner at the time) could and did gain custody.
Poor guy, that’s terrible he lost all his friends so young when he came out as gay 🙁 Hugs.