Keiynan Lonsdale plays one of the love interests in the hit gay teen comedy, Love, Simon, but in addition to being a busy actor in movies, and in TV shows like The Flash, he is also a musician who just dropped a new queer love anthem.
The actor, who came out as bisexual last year, released a lyric video for his new single, “Kiss the Boy,” which was inspired by the romance in Love, Simon.
“The teaser for Love, Simon had dropped on YouTube and then for some reason, I don’t know why, the song ’Kiss the Girl’ from The Little Mermaid popped up on my feed,” Lonsdale explained to Billboard.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so funny. I wonder if I can do a cover of that song, but change it to about a boy?’ It didn’t work, but I was thinking about the Love, Simon trailer and I was really happy. Eventually, I got the hook, ’If you wanna kiss the boy/ Then you better kiss the boy right now.'”
“Kiss the Boy” will appear on Lonsdale’s upcoming album, which will also feature songs he wrote years ago, as well as other tracks about queer love.
“At first, I was like, ‘I don’t wanna force this kind of thing.’ But that’s my reality,” he said.
The 26-year-old actor came out in an Instagram post last year, and then took to social media to thank his fans for their support.
Nothing better than happy tears. The love is beyond measurable, thank you. Don't forget to give that same love back to yourselves x
— Keiynan Lonsdale (@KeiynanLonsdale) May 13, 2017
“Nothing better than happy tears,” he tweeted. “The love is beyond measurable, thank you. Don’t forget to give that same love back to yourselves.”