Photo by Philip Cosores

UK crooner Sam Smith came out when he was a 19, “the only gay in the village” where he grew up. In a new interview in The Sunday Times, he elaborated on his personal journal by discussing his gender identity in non-binary terms.

“I don’t know what the title would be, but I feel just as much woman as I am man,” he said, detailing his penchant for dressing in women’s clothing and name-dropping Australian drag shop House of Priscilla.

“There was one moment in my life where I didn’t own a piece of male clothing, really,” he continued. “I would wear full make-up every day in school, eyelashes, leggings with Dr. Martens and huge fur coats, for 2 ½ years.”

Smith claims his latest songs—cuts like “Pray” and “Too Good at Goodbyes”—represent the stronger sense of self he’s developed over the last several years. “I think they show my growth, my confidence. I feel like they show me,” he said. “They show the gay guy I’ve become.”

His upcoming album, The Thrill of It All, the follow-up to 2015’s Grammy Award-winning debut, In the Lonely Hour, arrives on November 3rd. See the album’s making-of trailer below.