Sam Smith has spent the past few weeks on the mend with what they believe was COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In a new interview, the four-time Grammy winner said they exhibited COVID-19 symptoms while self-isolating with their sister in London, but never got formally tested.
“I’m just going to assume that I did because everything I’ve read completely pointed to that,” Smith told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe over FaceTime on Thursday. “So yeah, I think I definitely had it. And then as soon as I had it, my sister five days after me started getting the same symptoms.”
While Smith didn’t give an exact timeline for the illness, they said it struck about two weeks before the U.K. was seriously affected by the coronavirus. The siblings then decided to hunker down together in order to minimize the chances of infecting their family members.
“I’ve got an older nan and stuff, so we didn’t want to risk anything,” they added.
Though Smith is now feeling better, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the singer-songwriter’s creative endeavors.
Prior to the outbreak, their third album had been slated for a May 1 release under the title “To Die For.” Last month, they announced the album would be renamed and postponed until sometime later this year.
In their interview with Lowe, Smith said the album would drop “whenever this all calms down or whenever it feels right,” but didn’t specify a new title.
Luckily for fans, Thursday marked the release of “I’m Ready,” Smith’s new single and video with Demi Lovato, which they described as “2020 ABBA.”
And it seems that self-isolation has boosted Smith’s creative energy. Even with the forthcoming album on hold indefinitely, they’ve already begun to work on new music.
“I’ve got an album title for album four and I just know the vibe I want,” they said. “I just want it to be sexy — really, really sexy. I want it to be the album that you can put on and you can have a whole night fucking to or you can be in the bar and you listen to it. Do you know what I mean?”
Catch the video for “I’m Ready” below.
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