Sam Smith talks about his sexuality for the first time, saying “I am comfortable with myself, and my life is amazing in that respect.”

Sam Smith, who rose to fame when he featured on Disclosure’s Latch, revealed to FADER that his upcoming album In The Lonely Hour was written for a guy he fell for.

“I’ve never been in a relationship before,” the singer revealed. “I’ve only been in unrequited relationships where people haven’t loved me back. In the Lonely Hour is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back.”

Although he said that he never admitted his feelings to his love interest, he knew that they weren’t mutual. Smith added that channeling his feelings into his music was a form of therapy, and is hopeful about his love life in the future. “It’s all there now, and I can move on and hopefully find a guy who can love me the way I love him.”

This is the first time that Smith has discussed his sexuality in an interview, only because he never saw it as an issue or felt the need to come out. 

“I am comfortable with myself, and my life is amazing in that respect,” he said. “I just wanted to talk about him and have it out there. It’s about a guy and that’s what I wanted people to know — I want to be clear that that’s what it’s about.

“I’ve been treated as normal as anyone in my life; I’ve had no issues. I do know that some people have issues in life, but I haven’t, and it’s as normal as my right arm. I want to make it a normality because this is a non-issue. People wouldn’t ask a straight person these questions.

“Why is [my sexuality] a talking point?” he asked. “I’m singing, I’m making music, I’m performing my music—that’s what should be the talking point.”