22 Things We Learned Hanging Out With Sam Smith
He adds, “I said to my dad on the phone, ‘Who am I dissing here? Are all pop stars going to be offended by that comment?'” Because I think it’s common knowledge that some people are dickheads, right? I could be a dickhead. People probably think I’m a dickhead, sometimes. But it’s just common knowledge. I didn’t think that was a bad thing to say. . .I hope that Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande don’t think I’ve started dissing them, because I think they’re lovely.”
13. He loves Nicki Minaj.
“She said something I actually really agreed with. She did a documentary for the Pink Friday tour. She said something like, ‘When I’m assertive, I’m a bitch. When a man is assertive, he’s a boss.’ I could see where she comes from.”
14. Rihanna’s an idol – and a close friend.
“I fucking love Rihanna,” Smith gushes. “She came to my show in L.A. She speaks to me all the time. For someone that famous, she’s really real. Love her.”
15. He really likes to take baths.
Smith says he listens to “a lot of Lana Del Rey in the bath. She’s good bath music. Or the soundtrack to Elizabeth: The Golden Age.” He adds, “I make time for a bath. No matter what happens in life, no matter how famous I get or how upset or sad I get, how lonely I get, how happy I get, how heartbroken I get, the one thing I can always go to sleep knowing is there will always be baths.”
16. He considers himself spiritual.
“I believe in God, but I don’t know what it is — if it’s a he, she, a he-she, or anything. [Laughs] Who knows what it is. All I know is that I feel like there’s something else there.”
17. He has a specific way of describing his own incredible voice:
“It’s not falsetto, it’s just chest voice. I just power through. Sometimes I do head voice. It’s hard to explain. I just sing. . .I am technical, but I don’t know what it is because I’ve never heard it before with other guy singers. I belt in my high register. It’s hard. It’s quite operatic, the way I sing, sometimes.”
18. The Catholic Church influenced his style.
“I went to Catholic school ’til I was 18. There’s a connection there, you know?” he says. “For a lot of things I do, it’s a symbol. . .I used to change my earrings up all the time, every day. I’d have different pairs for each day. The day that I shot the acoustic video to ‘Lay Me Down,’ it just so happened that I wore cross earrings. And I remember when I watched the video back, I was like, ‘That can be my thing.’ There’s a little meaning behind wearing crucifixes in my ears, you know? But I would never go into it.”