Sam Smith has confirmed their engagement to Christian Cowan, a British fashion designer who has dressed everyone from Lady Gaga to Jennifer Lopez. The singer revealed the news in a New York Times interview, marking the latest chapter in a relationship that has already reshaped Smith's artistic voice.
A Love Story That Started Online
Smith, 34, and Cowan, 32, both British-born, grew up just 10 minutes apart near Cambridge but didn't meet until 2022, when they connected online. They began dating that year and made their relationship official on one of pop culture's biggest stages: the 2024 Met Gala red carpet, with Smith wearing a custom tuxedo designed by Cowan. The couple appeared together again at this year's May Met Gala, where Cowan designed Smith's look inspired by the legendary costume designer Erté.
Rumors of an engagement first surfaced after that May event when an unnamed source told Page Six they'd overheard Smith and Cowan discussing their engagement at the Mark Hotel before heading to the gala. Neither confirmed the news at the time, but Smith has now made it official in their Times interview.
An Album Born from Requited Love
Smith's fifth studio album, "Hazel Eyes," arriving August 12, is a direct love letter to Cowan, named for his eye color. The record marks a significant shift for an artist historically known for heartbreak songs like "Stay With Me."
It's the first time they've written about requited love, Smith explained.
Two standout tracks-"My Guy" and "Everlasting Love"-were born from this new emotional territory. Smith began writing "Everlasting Love" the day before their first date with Cowan, completing it once they became a couple. In the Times interview, Smith reflected on what it means to channel queerness and love into their art right now: "For me, there's something radical about being queer in this time, in this world, and singing love songs. I'm not going to allow the poison that I read and that I see to affect my way of loving."
Why It Matters
Smith's engagement arrives at a moment when queer artists openly celebrating love and partnership carries weight. The singer, who came out as nonbinary and switched to they/them pronouns in 2017, has built a five-time Grammy-winning career on emotional vulnerability. An engagement to a creative partner-someone who literally shapes Smith's image through fashion-feels less like celebrity gossip and more like a artist's life and work becoming fully integrated.
The timing also matters: Smith is releasing deeply personal music just as cultural discourse around queerness remains contentious. By centering a requited love story in a major album rollout, Smith is quietly modeling something radical-not hiding joy, not softening the edges of queer identity, but insisting it belongs at the center of the narrative.
Cover photo: PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
