Sam Smith won four Grammy Awards Sunday night, and he has a broken heart to thank for it.

Sam Smith Thanks Ex Boyfriend At Grammys

Smith took home awards for Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

The best night of my entire life

A photo posted by Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) on Feb 8, 2015 at 9:03pm PST

When accepting his last award of the night, Smith thanked his inspiration for his award-winning album In The Lonely Hour: the man who broke his heart. “I want to thank the man who this record is about, who I fell in love with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart, because you got me four Grammys,” Smith said with a smile.

It’s no secret Smith’s album is about unrequited love, and the singer is known for wearing his heart on his sleeve.

“When I hit 18 and something happened to me that hurt me, I discovered that writing the truth is really therapeutic and amazing. Every single one of my songs is about something very personal to me and I could tell anyone what it’s about, each song. Like a diary, basically,” Smith told Interview of his album.

Who Is Sam Smith’s Ex Boyfriend?

After his album was released, Smith opened up about his past relationship and unrequited love and confirmed his sexuality at the same time. While little is known about the ex that inspired In The Lonely Hour, Smith has said that the man in question never loved him back, and CBS reported that he was married. In an interview with FADER in May of 2014, Smith admitted that he had never been in a real relationship before, but was constantly having his heart broken.

“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,” Smith revealed.

Smith added that, while he won’t be revealing any specific details about the inspiration for his breakout album, writing his music has provided him with a bit of closure: “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?”

Smith’s mysterious ex may be unknown, but Smith reportedly told him about his feelings and warned him about the album prior to his release.

“I told him before the album came out, and it gave me a lot of closure, actually… It put a bookend at the end of the record. It was amazing, I’m so happy I did it,” Smith said.

As for the current state of his love life, Smith recently broke up with his boyfriend and joked backstage that the only thing that could be better than winning four Grammys would be a new boyfriend or “somebody who could clean all of these for me.”

Boyfriend or no boyfriend, Smith said that he is currently working on a second album, and fans can expect more honesty from the singer, and, hopefully, more love songs. “I’ve already started writing – I’m living through it now. I’m trying to kiss as many people as I possibly can, so I can write some good music,” Smith teased.

Get Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour here:

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.