Singer songwriter Sam Smith has confessed that his debut album, 'In The Lonely Hour', which has shot straight to No.1 in today's midweek chart update, was written about unrequited love. 

During a new interview with Fader magazine, the rising star admitted he penned the album about 'a guy that I fell in love with last year' and explained that he was 'in a dark place' during that time:

"I’ve never been in a relationship before. I’ve only been in unrequited relationships where people haven’t loved me back. I guess I’m a little bit attracted to that in a bad way. 'In the Lonely Hour' is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back. I think I’m over it now, but I was in a very dark place. I kept feeling lonely in the fact that I hadn’t felt love before. I’ve felt the bad things. And what’s a more powerful emotion: pain or happiness?"

When asked if the guy in question knows the album is based around his feelings for him, Smith added that he has told him: He does. I told him about it recently, and obviously it was never going to go the way I wanted it to go, because he doesn’t love me. But it was good as a form of closure, to get it off my chest and tell him."

He concluded: "I feel better for it. I feel almost like I signed off this part of my life where I keep giving myself to guys who are never going to love me back. It feels good to have interviews like this, to chat about it and put stuff to bed. It’s all there now, and I can move on and hopefully find a guy who can love me the way I love him."

Watch his music video for 'Leave Your Lover' here: