Coming Clean song meaning

The narrator of this song is a teenager who’s beginning to grow up and hence has to deal with the confusion and disillusionment of facing the truths and realizations of adult life. Like most people he has his secrets and as a child he never dared talk about them, but they are still there and he now understands that it might be time to reveal them. He finally figured out himself and it’s time to come clean.

This song was most likely inspired by the issue of homosexuality and how people are afraid to come out of the closet. The author talks not only about his own experience (“I think I’ve always been bisexual” - Armstrong), but also about that of people around him – his homosexual uncle and bisexual ex-girlfriend. Sexuality is a serious issue because a lot of people still haven’t evolved enough to accept someone who’s different from themselves or what is currently considered to be “the norm”. The issue is especially big for teenagers because at that age a lot of people still haven’t formed their beliefs and tend to go by the principles of what’s “in” or just plain mock someone if there’s a reason to mock them.(“People get attacked just because someone insinuates something about their sexuality. I think that’s gruesome.” - Armstrong). And coming clean at that stage is very hard and takes a lot of courage (“I found out what it takes to be a man”).