Sam Smith opens up about finding the 'vocabulary' for their identity

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Sam Smith says they've always identified as non-binary, even before they had the words to describe it.

The 34-year-old singer made the admission in a new interview with Apple Music, explaining that they were one of the first openly queer artists early in their career. 

“I was one of the first queer people who was out from the beginning of my career,” Smith, 34, told Zane Lowe in the interview released on Wednesday. 

Smith shared that the years following their breakout 2014 debut album were a time of self-discovery, as they tried to navigate industry pressure and figure out who they really were.

They called it a struggle “dealing with the pressures from the industry, which are loud, and trying to deal with that. And then also trying to appease the audience and then also dealing with the life change that comes with becoming famous at 21 years old.”

Smith came out publicly as non-binary in 2019, sharing that they would use they/them pronouns. 

Looking back now, Smith explained that they had always felt this way, even earlier in their career, but simply didn't have the language to describe it until later. 

“The whole time from In the Lonely Hour on ... I’ve always been non-binary. It’s always been who I am. I just found the vocabulary for that when I was, like, 27. So that was another coming out experience. And finally, here we are, and I’m fully out the closet,” Smith added with a chuckle.