Photos From Sam Smith’s Billboard Cover Shoot

Sam Smith owns a sprawling estate in Buckinghamshire, England, with a small Barnhouse on the outskirts. Smith’s one-year-old Bernadoodle Bernadette is guarded by a small dummy menagerie that includes turtles, flamingos, and a sloth named Keith (named after the merry murderess in Chicago). Among the billiards table, crystal chandelier, and well-stocked bar found inside are feathered palm tree-shaped lamps and a stuffed Ewok. If it weren’t for the neon “Fist Me” sign hanging from the ceiling, the building could easily be mistaken for a local watering hole.

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“What shall we call the tavern?” I wondered. “I know it’s not really a pub; it’s a little barn,” Smith says of the establishment. My sister suggested The Tadpole, which is a fantastic bar name, but I prefer The Fat Fairy.

Smith enthusiastically runs down a list of tasks to complete the bar’s furnishing, such as repairing the broken beer tap and laying wood flooring to match the old brick walls. Smith describes having “my own, private queer club in the middle of the countryside” as a nice perk of spending his weekends here after working in London during the week.
The shed-turned-studio where Smith has spent the last two years creating new music that, in their words, “finally reflects their truest self” is a few paces away from The Fat Fairy and is dedicated to a different kind of celebration. Smith, who identified as nonbinary in late 2019, is sitting on a turquoise couch inside, wearing a Balenciaga T-shirt with two gender-neutral stick figures holding hands, and exudes a newfound sense of comfort: no more hiding, no more questioning, just living life on their terms. “I can’t express how incredible I feel every day,” they grin.