Photos From Sam Smith’s Billboard Cover Shoot

Sam Smith owns a large estate in Buckinghamshire, England, with a small barn house off to the side. Velma, Smith’s one-year-old Bernadoodle, is being watched by a small collection of stuffed animals that includes turtles, flamingos, and Keith, a sloth (named after the merry murderess in Chicago). Inside, there’s a billiards table, a crystal chandelier, and a well-stocked bar, as well as lamps in the shape of palm trees decorated with feathers and a stuffed Ewok that stands just over 2 feet tall. If it weren’t for the neon “Fist Me” sign hanging from the ceiling, it could easily be mistaken for a local watering hole.

The thought occurred to me, “What do we call the pub?” “I know it’s not really a pub; it’s a little barn,” Smith says of the establishment. Sister suggested The Tadpole, which is a fantastic bar name, but I think The Fat Fairy is even better.

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 spends his weekends at his “own, private queer club in the middle of the countryside” after spending the week in London.
A few paces away from The Fat Fairy is a different kind of celebration: a shed-turned-studio where Smith has spent the better part of the last two years working on new music that, in their words, “finally reflects their truest self.” Smith, who came out as nonbinary in late 2019, sits on a turquoise couch inside, wearing a Balenciaga T-shirt with two gender-neutral stick figures holding hands, exuding a newfound sense of comfort: no more hiding, no more questioning, just living life on their own terms. “I can’t express how incredible I feel every day,” they grin.