Smith’s fifth studio album, ‘Hazel Eyes,’ is out Aug. 21
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NEED TO KNOW
- Sam Smith stopped taking selfies with fans to protect their privacy but initially struggled with depression over the decision
- Therapy helped Smith find joy in meeting fans again and balance fame with their personal life
- Smith’s upcoming album Hazel Eyes is a love letter to their fiancé Christian Cowan, celebrating their relationship
Sam Smith is getting candid about their relationship with the public.
In an interview published in The Guardian on Friday, Aug. 14, the singer-songwriter opened up about their decision to stop taking selfies with fans a few years back — and how they’ve reconciled with it.
In the interview, Smith said the decision — which they made to protect their privacy — led to depression “because I felt like I was upsetting people all day.”
However, through therapy, Smith, 34, began to view the relationship in a new light.
“I actually have started to find the happiness and the joy of meeting people. I’m a healthy person right now, so I’m able to juggle more,” they said.
“The trajectory of fame that I went through at such a young age, and trying to navigate my life as a gay person, then changing my pronouns — the weight of doing that so publicly in my 20s meant that I could juggle less,” Smith, who announced they would identify as they/them moving forward in 2019, continued.
Smith’s comments on their public life come ahead of the release of their fifth studio album Hazel Eyes on Friday, Aug. 21.
During an interview on The New Yorker Radio Hour earlier this month, they said the album was a love letter to their fiancé, Christian Cowan.
Credit: Mariano Regidor/Redferns
“He’s been so beautiful and encouraging through the whole process of this record,” they said. “It’s been the balancing act of, ‘How much do you share?’ Not wanting to share too much but also it’s about him and it’s a love letter to him as a record and of this time that we’re in.’”
In an interview on BBC Radio 2’s First and Last in 2022, according to The Standard, Smith confessed, “Fame is probably the biggest issue I have had in my life.”
“It is this horrible one as you can’t moan about it as I know I am very, very lucky to be in my position, but life does get turned on its head,” they continued.
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