Sam Smith surprises fans at Spotify listening party

Sam Smith appeared in high spirits as they wowed fans at a listening party for their new album Gloria at The Windmill on Tuesday night.

The non-binary singer, 30, who uses the pronouns they/them, wore a cardigan and jeans for the fun night out as they celebrated their latest musical proposal.

Sam rocked platinum blonde hair for a night out as they gave a talk and hugged delighted fans who had no idea they’d be in attendance.

Stay with me: Sam Smith shocked fans at a Spotify listening party for his Gloria album at London’s Windmill on Tuesday after saying “it’s a shame” no woman has been nominated for the BRIT Best Artist gong after from a gender-neutral review.

Stylish: Sam wore a cardigan and jeans as they settled in for photos with fans at the event

Stylish: Sam wore a cardigan and jeans as they settled in for photos with fans at the event

The superstar wore nothing under her red and white patterned cardigan and jeans and completed her look with Timberland boots.

The outing comes after Sam said it’s a “shame” there aren’t any women nominated for Best Artist at the BRIT Awards.

The Unholy hitmaker was one of the first musicians to call for the ceremony to be ‘reflective’, resulting in the organizers making the event the first major UK awards to abolish genre categories.

But Sam still thinks there’s a ‘long way to go’ after the shortlist for this year’s prestigious award featured only male nominees.

Looking good: The superstar wore nothing under her red and white patterned cardigan and jeans and completed her look with Timberland boots

Looking good: The superstar wore nothing under her red and white patterned cardigan and jeans and completed her look with Timberland boots

Making changes: The Unholy hitmaker was one of the first musicians to call for the BRITs to be 'reflective', which resulted in the organizers making the event the first major UK awards to abolish genre categories.

Making changes: The Unholy hitmaker was one of the first musicians to call for the BRITs to be ‘reflective’, which resulted in the organizers making the event the first major UK awards to abolish genre categories.

More to say: Sam still thinks there's a

More to say: Sam still thinks there’s a “long way to go” after the shortlist for this year’s prestigious award only included male nominees.

I couldn't agree more: Sam said there are plenty of female artists who should have made the shortlist, instead of just Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again sticking around to compete for the award.

I couldn’t agree more: Sam said there are plenty of female artists who should have made the shortlist, instead of just Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again sticking around to compete for the award.

Sam said there are plenty of female artists who should have made the shortlist, instead of only Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again staying to compete for the award.

When asked which women should have been shortlisted, they said: ‘Cat Burns. Ana Maria. Florence Welch. There’s so much incredible female talent in the UK who should be on that list.”

They said, ‘Things are moving forward, but it’s obviously not there yet. to see that [best artist] Ready, there’s still a long way to go.’

‘It’s incredibly frustrating. ‘It seems like it should be easy to do.’

Lost: The Unholy hitmaker was one of the first musicians to call for the ceremony to be 'thoughtful', resulting in organizers making the event the first major UK awards to abolish genre categories (Dua Lipa pictured )

Lost: The Unholy hitmaker was one of the first musicians to call for the ceremony to be ‘thoughtful’, resulting in organizers making the event the first major UK awards to abolish genre categories (Dua Lipa pictured )

In 2021, the BRIT Awards announced that they would be removing their male and female categories, in a bid to celebrate artists “solely for their music”.

They continued: ‘[The BRITs] I just have to celebrate everyone because this isn’t just about artists getting awards.

“The awards are for kids who watch TV and think, ‘I can make music like this.’ When I was young, if I had seen more queer people at these awards, my heart would have warmed. The awards are there to inspire.’

Not Impressed: Sam said there are plenty of female artists who should have made the shortlist, instead of only Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again staying to compete for the award.

Not Impressed: Sam said there are plenty of female artists who should have made the shortlist, instead of only Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again staying to compete for the award.

Meanwhile, while Sam believes their new album ‘Gloria’ is their most authentic record to date, they insisted they were never ‘inauthentic’, just not quite as comfortable with themselves.

Sam said: ‘I’ve always been authentic. I just think asking a 24-year-old to be 100% herself in front of 20,000 people was never going to happen.’

“I showed 70 percent of who I was then and a lot of that has to do with being gay.”

Women: When asked which women should have been shortlisted, they replied: 'Cat Burns (pictured).  Ana Maria.  Florence Welch.  There's so much incredible female talent in the UK who should be on that list.

Talent: Florence Welch pictured

Women: When asked which women should have been shortlisted, they replied: ‘Cat Burns (left). Ana Maria. Florence Welch (right). There’s so much incredible female talent in the UK who should be on that list.”

However, as I got older, I realized that there is no shame. I wasn’t being inauthentic, you just keep a few things to yourself until you’re ready.

It comes after George Ezra came under fire on Twitter last week for being nominated for the BRITs Entertainer of the Year award, while female stars were turned down.

The 29-year-old singer appeared on Lorraine and said the BRIT panel has done a “great job recognizing talent”, despite only men being nominated for main gong.

Facing the music: It comes after Geroge Ezra came under fire on Twitter last week for being nominated for the BRITs Artist of the Year award, while female stars were snubbed.

Facing the music: It comes after Geroge Ezra came under fire on Twitter last week for being nominated for the BRITs Artist of the Year award, while female stars were snubbed.

Viewers took to Twitter in fury to question the organizers’ decision not to feature a single female act and, awkwardly for George, many said they thought Dua Lipa, Raye and Florence & The Machine were worth more than him.

One wrote: ‘Are the BRITs really saying they don’t think there are any better female artists in this country than George Ezra?’ Another added: “You can’t tell me George Ezra is better than Raye or Dua or any other female artist.”

A third viewer said: “BRIT stands for Boys Receive Industry Trophies” while another wrote: “It’s an absolute disgrace that no woman is nominated for artist of the year on The Brits.” It’s even more embarrassing that it’s George Ezra.

BRIT AWARDS 2023: THE NOMINATIONS

Mastercard Album of the Year

The 1975 – Being funny in a foreign language

Wet leg – Wet leg

Harry Styles – Harry’s House

Stormzy – This is what I mean

Fred Again – Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9, 2022)

Artist of the Year

central eec

fred again

Jorge Ezra

Harry styles

stormy

group of the year

the 1975

Artic Monkeys

Bad Boy Cooler Team

nova twins

wet leg

Best New Artist

Radical Kojey

mimi webb

rina sawayama

sam ryder

wet leg

Song of the Year with Mastercard

Aitch – Baby Ft. Ashanti

Cat Burns – Go

Dave – Starlight

Ed Sheeran and Elton John – Merry Christmas

Eliza Rose and the Interplanetary Criminal: The Baddest of Them All

George Ezra – Green Green Grass

Harry Styles – As It Was

Lewis Capaldi – Forget Me

Lf System – Fear of feeling

Sam Smith and Kim Petras – Unholy

Best Alternative Rock

the 1975

Artic Monkeys

nova twins

tom grennan

wet leg

RISING STAR

Flo

Hip hop/ dirt/ rap

Ouch

central eec

dave

loyle carner

stormy

dance act

becky hill

Bonobo

Calvin Harris

eliza rose

fred again

Pop/ R’n’B

cat burns

charli xcx

dualipa

Harry styles

sam smith

International Artist of the Year

Beyonce

burna boy

kendrick lamar

lizzo

Taylor Swift

International Group of the Year

black pink

drake and 21 savages

First aid box

dc sources

gabriels

International Song of the Year

Beyoncé – Break my soul

David Guetta and Bebe Rexa – I’m fine (blue)

Fireboy Dml & Ed Sheeran – Peru

Mauro Castillo, Stephanie Beatriz, Carolina Gaitán, Rhenzy Feliz, Encanto – Cast, Adassa, Diane Guerrero – We are not talking about Bruno

Gayle – Abcdefu

Jack Harlow – First Class

Lizzo – About time

Calum Scott and Lost Frequencies – Where are you Npow?

One Republic – I’m not worried

Taylor Swift – Antihero