Sam Smith Reveals His Unrequited Love For A Straight Friend Inspired His Hit Album

Sam Smith says that unrequited feelings for a straight male friend inspired his smash debut album, "In The Lonely Hour."

"It's really tough to explain. But no, he's not gay," Smith, 22, told The Sun of the friend, whom he did not name. "I know he loved me, too, but not in that way."

In segments of the interview, which was excerpted by the Daily Mail, the singer-songwriter said he gave his pal the heads-up before the album's release this spring, and revealed "it gave me a lot of closure actually."

"It put a book end at the end of the record," he noted. "It was amazing, I'm so happy I did it. What I wrote the songs about doesn't affect me anymore."

Released in June, "In The Lonely Hour" has produced the smash singles "Stay With Me" and "Leave Your Lover."

Smith, who opened up publicly about his sexuality in May, told Digital Spy that he is "not trying to be a spokesperson" for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

"It sounds awful of me, but I'm really just trying to live my life and write music about it. That's what I do. I'm not trying to heal the world," he said. "My family and friends have made it feel normal and I'm not going to stop that now."