Midmorning With Aundrea - November 24, 2020 (Part 3)

(Part 3 of 4) We get up close and personal with non-binary singer Sam Smith.

Sam smith's first two albums were multi-platinum hits, peaking at number one and two on the charts in the u-s and the u-k.

The singer's emotional and revealing music has earned four grammys, an oscar and a golden globe.

Smith, who identifies as non- binary and uses Áthey-themÁ pronouns, told us their third record explores a whole new side of Áthemself.Á mason: "first o all, sam, how are you doing?"

Smith: "i'm good, i' good.

// it's been hard few months.

I can't lie.

It's been a hard few months.

We're in lockdown here again."

Narr: sam smith has performed just one live concert during the pandemic& at abbey road studios last month, to promote their new album, love goes.

Mason: "how muc do you miss performing?"

Smith: "i miss it lot.

I really do.

It's be really hard to bring out a record and not sing these songs with my fans and in front of my fans."

Mason: "it feel like in some ways like that you found new parts of your voice."

Smith: "yeah, yeah completely."

// "i always having vocal lessons and trying to learn more and more as a singer.

So hopefully i'm getting better."

Mason: "you're stil taking vocal lessons, really?"

Smith: "yeah, yeah stevie wonder said he still has vocal lessons all the time.

And when i read that, i was like, there's no excuse."

Narr: the british artist broke out in 2014, behind the international smash, "stay wit me" smith : "it's really har to explain where i come from actually."

Narr: smith was just 22 when we met that year, in their hometown of great chisell, about an hour from london&for cbs sunday morning: smith: "i have suc lovely memories of that day.

It was a wonderful day."

Narr: we walked the same country roads smith wandered as a teenager, wearing headphones & listening to beyonce: smith : "yeah, this is m spot.

And i got my first ever job in a news agency over there."

Mason: "how di you happen to pick this spot?"

Smith: "i don't kno its just something about listening to music and looking at that."

Narr: even then, smith told me, they had a plan smith : "plan was to mov to london and become a famous singer."

Mason: "workin out remarkably well."

Smith: "yeah.

Narr: six years later, the singer says success has been a challenge: mason: "what's th hardest part about it?"

Smith: "the hardes part has been the fame."// "you s where i grew up, you went there.

I grew up in a village with no access to queer people and queer spaces until i was 19, 20.

So a lot of my growing up was as a gay person and a queer person has happened in front of people."

Music: love goes narr: it all came to head last year.

Smith: "2019 for m was a fight with my mental health.

For the first time ever, i started to get panic attacks and, you know, feeling anxiety.

And i think that's because i was facing it really for the first time."

Music: another one narr: smith was facing a realization...and came out as non- binary& mason: "to peopl who are confused: how, in the simplest terms, would you explain what it means to be non-binary?"

Smith: "quee people all around the world, we don't identify within those two places.

Gender, for me, has been nothing but traumatizing and challenging throughout my life, and i just don't feel like, it's so hard to explain.

I just feel like myself, i.

I don't feel like a man, basically."

Narr: that september, smith announced on instagram: "i am changing m pronouns to they/them after a lifetime of being at war with my gender i've decided to embrace myself for who i am."

Mason: "would yo say it took courage to do this?"

Smith: "i honestly, can't express to enough people how much courage its taken&" // " wasn't prepared for the amount of ridicule.

And bullying, really, that i've experienced."

Mason: "you're stil being bullied?"

Smith: "yeah, i mean honestly, the the the comments and the the types of things that i have to answer and walk through every day is very, very intense."

Music: "so serious : "put your hand in the air, if you sometimes ever get sad like me&" narr: but in life, and in song, sam smith says, they're fighting through it: mason: "how's tha fight going?"

Smith: "it's goin better now, so much better."//"aft being able to talk about my gender expression, i feel such a weight has been lifted."

Mason: "do yo regret at times being a public figure?"

Smith: "sometimes yeah, for sure.

But then when i do feel that type of regret, i always come back to music and how i feel at the basis of all this, people hopefully still want to hear me sing and i still love singing.

So that's what gets me through all of it."

Mason: "wel you're singing better than ever."

Smith: 'aw, thank you."

What to serve with the turkey and dressing.

Bobbie burgess has