Australian actor and musician Keiynan Lonsdale has released his first single, inspired in part by his role in the film Love, Simon - which was released in Australia today.
The single was a natural next step for Lonsdale, who was born in Sydney and sharpened his acting chops on ABC's Dance Academy.
“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.
He continued: “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.'"
Lonsdale said the song, which will appear on his upcoming album, was one of the easiest he'd ever written.
“I had so much to draw off, with the movie, my own personal life and every relationship I'd been in and other people's stories that they'd told me,” he said.
“I’m still listening to them now and I still love them, then that's a really good sign.” He added that the album will also have more songs that represent queer love: “At first, I was like, ‘I don't wanna force this kind of thing.’ But that's my reality.”
After coming out as bisexual on social media last year, Lonsdale later clarified that he prefers not to label his sexuality and identifies primarily as queer.
You can listen to the song below:
