Sam Smith reveals new album is about guy he 'fell in love with'

The singer said 'In the Lonely Hour' was written about an unrequited love

Singer Sam Smith arrives at the Brit Awards 2014 (Getty Images)

Sam Smith has opened up for the first time about his sexuality, revealing his debut album In the Lonely Hour was written about a boy he fell in love with.

The singer, 22, revealed he has never been in a relationship before, and wrote his new record about unrequited love.

“In the Lonely Hour is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back. I think I’m over it now, but I was in a very dark place,” he said in an interview with Fader magazine.

Smith said he hoped the new album will appeal to everyone "whether it's a guy, a female or a goat", and has taken care to use pronouns that make his ex-love's gender ambiguous in its lyrics.

He said: “I’ve tried to be clever with this album, because it’s so important to me that my music reaches everybody. I’ve made my music so that it could be about anything and everybody…and everybody can relate to that.”

He added: “I’m not in this industry to talk about my personal life unless it’s in a musical form”.

The interview marks the first time Smith has talked publicly about his sexuality, following speculation from fans and the media.

The singer described opening up about his sexuality as a relief, saying: “It feels good to have interviews like this, to chat about it and put stuff to bed. It’s all there now, and I can move on and hopefully find a guy who can love me the way I love him.”

Smith said he hoped homosexuality would become more of a “normality” in society, and said he had never experienced any prejudice from his friends or family.

“I’ve been treated as normal as anyone in my life; I’ve not had 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.”