Knowing that I inspired SAM SMITH is one of the most powerful experiences I've had as an artist. I was Sam. I still am Sam.

Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you - they make you perfect. It's not real life. I'm gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age. And it's making girls sick.

My new album that I'm creating, which is finished pretty much, was written with this new instinctual energy that I've developed getting to know my fans. They protect me, so now it's my destiny to protect them.

I feel that homophobia runs rampant in the music industry, and that artists are allowed to speak openly in a hateful way, in a homophobic way, in a misogynistic way, and the press does not challenge them. And I'm going to be taking a very strong stance against that, and I am an artist who refuses to accept that behavior.

I find it so important now to be a role model and a figure. And I know that may sound strange to some people, but most important is my connection with my fans and the connection that they breed with one another.

I'm not interested in people positioning me next to other artists.

I don't like talking to celebrities.