In a recent Rolling Stone interview, singer-songwriter Troye Sivan discusses his decision to publicly come out gay.

The 21-year-old Sivan came out gay in a 2013 YouTube video.

The Australian artist and YouTube personality said that the first – and hardest – step is coming out to yourself.

“And then kind of once you've gotten past that process, I would say make sure that you're in a safe environment. And then if you feel like it is a safe environment, I would highly, highly recommend coming out,” Sivan said.

“Not everyone wants to or has to, of course. But for me it has been like the best thing that I've ever done in my entire life.”

“I didn't want to sign my record deal while I was closeted – just in case they tried to tell me not to come out,” Sivan later added. “I didn't want to ever give anyone that kind of power.”