{"id":834188,"date":"2026-07-30T20:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834188\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T20:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:37:10","slug":"sam-smith-announces-engagement-which-they-say-inspired-upcoming-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/834188\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Smith announces engagement, which they say inspired upcoming album"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Smith<\/a>\u00a0has announced their engagement to fashion designer Christian Cowan, whose relationship with the singer inspired the upcoming album \u2018Hazel Eyes\u2019.<\/p>\n

Smith confirmed that Cowan is now their fianc\u00e9 in a new interview with\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>, after the couple had been together for around three years.<\/p>\n

Their relationship influenced much of Smith\u2019s forthcoming fifth studio album\u00a0\u2018Hazel Eyes\u2019<\/a>, which takes its title from Cowan\u2019s eye\u00a0colour.<\/p>\n

Opening track \u2018Everlasting Love\u2019 was initially written on the evening before the pair\u2019s first date, with Smith later completing the song as their relationship developed. Smith describes it as the first song they have written about \u201crequited love\u201d, having established their career with songs exploring heartbreak and unreturned affection.<\/p>\n

The singer also reflected on the emotional contradictions they experienced while making the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel all types of things all the time,\u201d they said. \u201cIn my happiest moments, I can get really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Smith and Cowan were first publicly linked in December 2022, when they attended a White House event marking the signing of the Respect\u00a0For\u00a0Marriage Act.\u00a0They made their red-carpet debut as a couple at the 2024 Met Gala and appeared together again at this year\u2019s ceremony, wearing matching outfits designed by Cowan.<\/p>\n

Smith said they had deliberately kept much of the relationship away from public attention in an effort to protect it.<\/p>\n

The singer also spoke about the significance of releasing openly queer love songs amid continuing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, there\u2019s something radical about being queer in this time, in this world and singing love songs,\u201d they said.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not going to allow the poison that I read and that I see to affect my way of loving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hazel Eyes\u2019 will be released on August 21 via Capitol Records UK. It follows Smith\u2019s 2023 album \u2018Gloria<\/a>\u2019 and was created with a small group of close collaborators, including longtime creative partner Simon Aldred. Pre-order it\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 12-track record also features contributions from\u00a0Feist<\/a> and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, with parts of the project recorded at New York\u2019s Electric Lady Studios.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis album is incredibly special to me,\u201d Smith previously said. \u201cI have been writing it for over three years with a very small group of beautiful, dear friends of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis record and this music\u00a0is\u00a0incredibly romantic.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0learned so many life lessons through making this album, and\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0documented it all through the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith will support the album with\u00a0\u2018To Be Free\u2019 residencies in Manchester and London<\/a>\u00a0this September.\u00a0They will perform twice at Manchester\u2019s Albert Hall before playing eight nights at the London Coliseum between September 8 and 19. Find tickets\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a four-star review of \u2018Gloria\u2019<\/a>,\u00a0NME described the record as \u201cthe most surprising, satisfying and vital work\u201d of Smith\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith\u2019s soulful voice is stunning throughout,\u201d it added. \u201cSam Smith has never sounded better because they\u2019ve never been more themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Smith\u00a0has announced their engagement to fashion designer Christian Cowan, whose relationship with the singer inspired the upcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136,11255],"class_list":["post-834188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}