Sam Smith on Lady Gaga, Tom Petty, Boy George ... and his next album

FIVE years ago Sam Smith was sleeping out for front row concert tickets. Now he’s battling paps, trolls, lawsuits ... and partying with Madonna and Gaga. No complaints, then.

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 20: Singer Sam Smith performing live at the Air Canada Centre. (David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

SAM Smith is living the dream of every pop superfan — he’s just more insanely talented than most of them.

Five years ago, the then 17-year-old Smith was faking notes to school teachers to camp out (literally) for 10 hours (twice) to get the best tickets for Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball.

He admired Gaga’s music, her hustle to succeed and related to her promoting gay rights.

A Little Monster from the get-go, Smith wound up being front row and losing his tiny mind at his proximity to his hero.

Fast forward four years and Lady Gaga t-t-t-telephoned Sam Smith, now one of the world’s most popular singers, to personally relieve his Grammy-related anxiety.

Smith’s debut album, In the Lonely Hour, scored six Grammy nominations. He’d end up winning four.

But he was so worried about the night only a pep talk from Mother Monster would suffice.

“She saved my Grammy experience,” Smith says of Gaga. “She called me two days before and talked me through it and made me feel very happy about it because I was so nervous.”

There’s still a big Little Monster in Sam Smith, the world’s newest superstar.

He genuinely says he sees himself when he looks into the front rows at his own concerts.

“That is absolutely me,” he says. “That’s why I relate to my fans so much. I did what they did for Lady Gaga. I camped out for tickets. I can just relate to where they’re coming from. It is me. It always will be me. I’m a fan of music. I remember that feeling.”

It’s that feeling, deep in his DNA, that means Smith never wants to disappoint anyone — he knows how he would have been crushed if his idol had snubbed him.

“I go out every single night to see the fans,” Smith says. “Every single night. I think I’ve missed maybe four nights in two years because I was sick, but that was it.”

Relatable is a word Smith uses a lot. He’s still surprised his idols know who he is.

Like Madonna. Smith spent New Year’s Eve in Sydney where his local friend Trent Titmarsh played Madonna constantly, with Smith getting a belated epiphany about the power of Madonna.

A few weeks later, Smith was face to face with Madonna at the Grammys.

“It was incredible,” he says. “It’s just weird she is a fan of my music and knew who I was. I was very starstruck.”

He’s also friends with Beyonce and Taylor Swift.

“We mainly talk about music,” he says, in case you’re wondering. “I did have a conversation with Beyonce about food, which was great.”

Food’s become a big deal for Smith in 2015.

During that Sydney break Smith got a reality check about how global his fame is when paparazzi shots of him swimming surfaced.

“I thought going to the other side of the world away from the country I was born in would get me away from photographers, but I fell into more of it,” he laughs. “It didn’t ruin my holiday or anything, but it was annoying two or three times.”

Such as one photo of him in a bathing suit.

“I f----ing hated that!,” he says.

It’s here where Smith is torn; he wants to be a role model for pop stars who aren’t stick thin, but he’s also realising how important his health is.

He’s recently shed a reported 14kg thanks to nutritionist Amelia Freer’s book Eat Nourish Glow.

“I want to be relatable and realistic,” Smith says. “I don’t want to be the perfect pop star because I’m far from that. But I did see that (swimsuit) picture and thought ‘f---ing hell I hate how I look’ so I’m working on trying to be a little bit healthier. It didn’t cut me up too much but I just didn’t enjoy what I saw. I think that’s the same with everyone. Plus they always pick the worst photo.”

And if the millions of sales and sold-out shows didn’t signify he’d made it, Smith has now received the honour of being slagged off by Noel Gallagher.

“Sam Smith just stands there like Boy George in a coma,” Gallagher told the NME.

“I absolutely love Boy George, he’s so amazing and so funny,” Smith says. “I disagree hugely with Noel, but Boy George is great. To be compared to him is great.”

Then there was the time a UK paper claimed they’d found the object of Smith’s unrequited love who inspired In the Lonely Hour. They named the man and said he was one of Smith’s managers.

“I’m never going to discuss who the record is about, so there’s always going to be speculation,” Smith says. “In terms of my managers, I have very professional relationships with all my managers.”

Smith’s hit Stay With Me also became the subject of unwanted attention in January after Tom Petty publishers pursued court action over similarities to Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.

Their lawyers won, with Petty and Jeff Lynne, who wrote I Won’t Back Down, now credited as co-writers of Stay With Me, earning a lucrative 12.5 per cent of the song’s royalties in an out-of-court settlement.

“It was a really, really bad coincidence,” Smith says.

Petty made a statement saying he had no hard feelings towards Smith and never intended for the story to go public.

“All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen,” Petty said. “Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by. Sam’s people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. The word lawsuit was never even said and was never my intention. And no more was to be said about it. A musical accident, no more no less. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career.”

Smith said Petty’s statement explained it better than he could.

“I don’t really need to say anything more. He wrote me a letter as well which was nice.”

Smith’s soulful voice introduced a new generation to classic songwriting and connected with those who remember his influences.

He can hear in his voice those he grew up listening to: Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Chaka Khan.

Indeed, when Mary J Blige (a hero and now a collaborator and friend) first heard Smith singing on Disclosure’s Latch she thought he was a black woman.

“I love it when people think I’m a woman, it’s a huge compliment,” Smith says. “All I do is listen to female voices. That means my voice has been massively influenced by who I listen to.”

Smith has also found himself as a spokesman for the gay community as one of the few out and proud singers in the mainstream.

He’s also been quick to point out the double standard that straight performers don’t get constantly asked about their sexuality.

“I’m completely embracing being a (gay) spokesman, I kind of have to. But when I talk about straight people not being asked about their sexuality all the time I just mean it proves how far we are from being equal. I’m not treated equally in interviews, gay people are not treated equally all over the world, I’m just making a point.”

Last year’s video for the single Lay Me Down made the point of wondering when same sex couples will be allowed to married.

“It’s important to make your messages through the art, through the music. Interviews only last so long, songs and albums and videos and music last a lifetime.”

When the video aired, Smith posted vile homophobic comments he was sent on social media.

“I just wanted to give people an insight,” he says. “People think homophobia doesn’t exist any more and it does. I’m getting the most disgusting things said to me online, which I don’t read anymore, but it’s horrendous. I don’t even pay attention to it. I find it stupid and the people who are saying it are obviously uneducated.”

Smith is single, and “concentrating on my music” rather than boyfriend hunting.

“I managed to have a boyfriend at the beginning of the year, that was nice,” he says. “So I guess there is time here and there.”

That boyfriend, who Smith met on a video shoot last year, accompanied him on his Sydney holiday and became a public figure himself by default.

“I learnt some lessons in that brief relationship, definitely,” Smith says. “I’ve got to keep some things to myself. I’m so honest and so open in everything I do that it’s unnatural for me to be hiding stuff. But it’s important for me to keep my boyfriends to myself moving forward. All the gossip will be in the music.”

There is new music coming, but not this year.

“I feel like I’ve already got the concept for the next record worked out, I’ve written a few songs that I’m really excited about but I don’t want to release anything until it’s perfect,” Smith says. “But I’m constantly writing music.”

2015 will be spent touring In the Lonely Hour, connecting with the masses the way Lady Gaga did with a teenage Smith.

His tour finds time for his own songs, as well as solo versions of Disclosure’s Latch and Naughty Boy’s La La La and a cover of My Funny Valentine.

He sang the track at the wedding of his songwriting partner Jimmy Napes — now also an artist himself.

“I loved singing it so much I wanted to put it in the set,” Smith says. “It’s a classy moment in the show. I love that song.”

Such is his popularity that he’s been upgraded to arena status on only his first album.

“I did arenas all across America and it was crazy,” Smith says.

“I was completely thrown in the deep end if I’m honest. Playing arenas requires a completely different set of skills but I think I pulled it off and it felt incredible.”

Sam Smith

Brisbane Riverstage April 25

Hordern Pavillion, Sydney April 27-28

Margaret Court Arena Melbourne April 30

Adelaide Entertainment Centre May 1

HBF Stadium Perth May 4

All shows sold out

Originally published as Sam Smith on Lady Gaga, Tom Petty, Boy George ... and his next album