Sam Smith has some hot takes on gender.
Giving an interview with The Sunday Times, the singer revealed the inner turmoil and confusion he’s felt over the years.
“I was 19 when I started writing the first album. I’d just moved to London from a village — I was literally the only gay in the village. I didn’t know what I wanted to say,” Smith said.
But now that Smith is 25 and more comfortable in his own skin, he isn’t afraid to embrace his true identity. His upcoming album is set to release Nov. 3 and is hotly anticipated as a ballad for self-love.
“I think [the new songs] show my growth, my confidence. I feel like they show me. They show the gay guy I’ve become.”
During his interview, Smith also revealed that he’s not completely sold on being a man.
“I love a heel. I’ve got loads of heels at home. People don’t know this, but when I was 17, I remember becoming obsessed with Boy George and Marilyn [Monroe], and all that. There was one moment in my life where I didn’t own a piece of male clothing, really. I would wear full make-up every day in school, eyelashes, leggings with Dr Martens and huge fur coats, for 2.5 years.”
When he was then asked if he felt “cisgender” (which means your gender identity matches your biological sex), the singer answered no, basically.
“I don’t know what the title would be, but I feel just as much woman as I am man.”
Now call me old fashioned, but I didn’t know this was possible, except maybe if you were a seahorse or a stick insect.
But apparently humans can feel this way too. And when anybody tells him differently he probably breaks out in his “La La La” lyrics:
I’m covering my ears like a kid
When your words mean nothing, I go la la la
I’m turning up the volume when you speak
‘Cause if my heart can’t stop it,
I find a way to block it, I go
The singer also claimed he easily slips into depression from time to time.
“Last year…I’d say the entire year, I went out too much, I started drinking way too much and I started smoking cigarettes, stupidly. And I lost a little bit of control towards the end.”
This part is actually entirely unsurprising to me. I can’t listen to one Sam Smith song without feeling awful. Every song he’s ever written is about a breakup or an obsessive relationship. If you can listen to “I’m Not The Only One” or “Stay With Me” without staring into the distance and contemplating your entire existence then you’re probably a psychopath.