Sam Smith interview: 'Honest singer is what I am'

Sam Smith was "completely and utterly shocked," he says, to win so big at this year's Grammys, earning best new artist, song and record of the year for "Stay With Me" and best pop vocal album for a double-platinum debut called "In the Lonely Hour."

"I had prepared myself to win none at all," the British pop sensation says. "The minute I won one, my dreams came true. To win four is still mind-blowing and very surreal."

It's a deeply personal album for Smith, inspired as it was by a relationship that didn't go the way he'd hoped and the heartache and self-doubt that followed. The goal was catharsis for Smith, then 21, not hit singles and certainly not a big night at the Grammys.

He wasn't expecting his musical diary entries to resonate on such a massive scale.

"I always wanted to be a pop singer and to have music that touched many people," Smith says. "But the making of this album was purely selfish and I got so inside my own head, I forgot what the end goal was. So when everyone started to react, I couldn't believe it."

He has a pretty good idea, though, why people have responded in such numbers to his catharsis.

"Honesty," he says. "A man being honest about being heartbroken."

Of course, it doesn't hurt that he can share that heartache in an aching upper register that marks him as a strong contender for the title of his generation's answer to the great Boy George.

As Mat Mitchell, the program director at KZZP-FM (104.7 KISS FM) and KMXP-FM (Mix 97), sizes up his vocals: "He's got an amazing range and he has that amazing, unique falsetto. When you hear him hit those high notes, you know it is exclusively Sam Smith."

That singing style was shaped by female singers when Smith was growing up in London.

"I think it's mainly because girls talk about boys and I could relate to that," he says. "I also just felt vocally I wanted to sound more like a girl."

A very soulful girl.

Olivia Khiel recalls her first exposure to the singer's U.S. breakthrough.

A 23-year-old from Tempe, Khiel says, "When 'Stay With Me' came out, I remember turning to my friend as we were driving in the car and she said, 'He sounds like the male Adele.' He has this fantastic, soulful voice. And listening to the content of the album, you hear a lot of girls sing about breakups. And you hear guys sing about it, too, but not like him because he is just so emotional. It's very, very raw. And I don't hear a lot of male singers put that much feeling into a song. It was kind of refreshing."

As to whether he see himself as a soul singer, Smith responds, "If a soul singer means someone who sings from the heart, and when they sing it provokes an emotion, then yes. Soul music for me isn't a genre. It's a feeling. Honest music is a better title. Honest singer is what I am."

His first taste of success was as a featured vocalist on "Latch," the breakthrough single for Disclosure, a British electronic-music duo. Released in late 2012, "Latch" peaked at No. 11 on the UK singles chart, which Smith went on to top in May 2013 as the singer on another dance hit, "La La La" by Naughty Boy."

Was he worried that fans of his work on those dance singles wouldn't be ready to hear his voice in such a different light?

"A little, yes," he says. "But for me, it's not about how you dress a song. Genre and sound have always not meant much to me. I'm worried about honesty and making something which when I sing it, my heart hurts. I want people to hear my heart. Not just the beat."

He hasn't completely abandoned the dance floor, however. Just last week, he dropped another single with Disclosure, a soulful dance cut titled "Omen." And he still feels "massively" connected to "Latch," which he wrote with Disclosure and Jimmy Napes.

"It's my song as much as it is Disclosure's," he says, "and as much as it is Jimmy Napes'. That song changed our lives."

His first U.S. release was "Stay With Me," the six-times-platinum smash that swept the Grammys and took him to No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100, held at bay by the Magic! song "Rude."

"That song is so multiformat," Mitchell says. "You hear that song on Top 40 radio stations, hot adult contemporary stations, AC stations, urban contemporary. So you know you've really found something special when a song that came out months and months ago is still getting played in a pretty steady rotation and still connects with an audience across several different formats. And he's had a pretty steady string of hits from this debut."

Subsequent hits include the triple-platinum "I'm Not the Only One," which peaked at No. 6, and "Lay Me Down," which peaked at No. 8. And there are several other strong contenders for the next Top 10 single from the album.

Mitchell says, "I think the album, if you listen to it from start to finish, is a timeless album. It's a very emotional, personal album — songs about love, songs about companionship. So when those songs came out, I think they really connected with people of every background. It's one of those albums that will still be relevant for many years to come. And he's got quite a range between his ballads, midtempo and uptempo records."

With "In the Lonely Hour" as his double-platinum calling card, Smith is touring the States, filling venues as large as the 19,000-seat Gila River Arena, which means he has to get on stage in city after city and immerse himself in the emotions he was feeling in his darkest hour. But as Smith says, "For me it's a beautiful thing. Songs that I felt so deeply are now almost like photos from a photo album. They're no longer my songs, they're yours. That's how I see it."

One aspect of success that's less appealing is the focus on his sexuality.

"Sadly, we live in a world where I am seen as a gay singer, not just a singer," he says. "I am proud of my sexuality, but you don't see people writing about Brad Pitt saying 'straight actor Brad Pitt,' so it's disappointing in that respect. Equality is all I ask for."

It's not that Smith is above discussing sexuality. In accepting his record-of-the-year award at the Grammys, he memorably quipped, "I want to thank the man who this record is about who I fell in love with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys."

As for future Grammy wins, he may be busy touring with a new single to promote, but Smith still thinks about the follow-up to "In the Lonely Hour" every day.

"I've always known what it will be," he says. "My albums are my diaries. So whatever has happened in the last few years is what the record will be about. I'm trying to write, now, when I have something to say. Instead of forcing things out and talking bulls--t."

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley

Sam Smith

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Where: Gila River Arena, Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue in Glendale.

Admission: $33-$83.

Details: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.