Sam Smith News

Sam Smith Admits There's One Song on His Debut Album He 'Really Hates'

If you thought Sam Smith was deeply honest on his first album, expect him to take it a step further on his sophomore release.

"It's (expletive) great. It's really deep (stuff) that's coming out — that's all I'll say," a smiling Smith said in a recent interview.

He wouldn't say when his follow-up to 2014's In the Lonely Hour will be released, but said he's pushing himself to explore new territory.

"Every day I'm having little epiphanies and changes and loving it. But all I can say is that I'm putting my heart even more out on the (expletive) line," Smith said. "I'm going even deeper. I can't believe I'm even doing it, but I'm going even deeper."

In the Lonely Hour featured emotional pop songs about love lapses and unrequited love, including song titles like "Leave Your Lover" and "I'm Not the Only One." It reached multiplatinum status in the United States and won four Grammy Awards, including song and record of the year for "Stay With Me."

As he reflects on that album, Smith says he has mixed feelings about his breakthrough project.

"There's a few songs I really (expletive) hate, but then the core of the album, songs like 'Stay With Me,' 'I'm Not the Only One' — actually all the songs except 'Money on My Mind' — I really love and I'm really proud of the classic-ness of the way they sound, because I still listen to them now and I still love them," he said. "The music I'm making at the moment, it's very much a beautiful little transition from there and it fits."

Smith co-wrote his debut album and also won an Academy Award for co-writing "Writing's on the Wall" from the James Bond film Spectre. He says there's a "few moments" on his first album "where I think to myself, 'I would have changed that. I would have done that differently.'"

Smith added that when he began to rise in the United Kingdom as a featured act on Disclosure's dance song "Latch" — originally released in late 2012 — there was some confusion about which musical direction he should take.

"As soon as 'Latch' had a lot of success in (the) U.K., my label and me had a little bit of a panic. We were like, 'Maybe we should be doing dance?' And that's what I can hear on (my first) album — there's two or three songs where I can hear the little wobble, but the rest of the album is what I set out to make from the beginning," he said.

"But I still love my album, but I'm loving my new one (expletive) more."

I hope his 2nd album does the business, he's probably one of the coolest guys in the music industry right now.

Was pleased that "Writing's on the Wall" won the Oscar, I thought that it was a pretty good song.

Sam Smith: In Concert
At the BBC Radio Theatre, London, at the end of a run of dates. He chatted a little between songs, and promised his 2nd album was his next target. No play of the Bond theme, but otherwise a decent not-quite-an-hour.

Sam Smith - Live @ V Festival 2015
A short burst from his daytime set, and much loved by the crowd. Hopes will be sky high for his 2nd album, when it comes.

Pop Profiles: Sam Smith
The short series covered the so-far-short career of the promising singer-songwriter. He featured on dance tracks for Disclosure and Naughty Boy, to great effect, then hit pay-dirt with his debut album, which was a big seller in the USA, and spawned a slew of hit singles, fast and slow. He won awards galore, too, and took the latest James Bond theme to #1. The world awaits his 2nd album eagerly...

Miladdo is back with a new single:

Too Good At Goodbyes

According to the midweeks here, this will unseat Taylor Swift on Friday to give him his 5th solo #1 single

It did, and he has

Ellen de Generes show: Sam Smith (Oct 30-ish)
Sam plugged his new album, spoke of his mishaps at the Oscars, the process of writing his new album, and things to write about, how he's now happy and with a partner, lives in a spooky old house where he experiences ghosts, and finally sings Too Good at Goodbyes.

His album The Thrill of it All is out on Friday.

His album did go to #1

Sam Smith at the BBC
Another of these hours to plug a new album and chat away. He wrote over a hundred songs, but threw most of them away. He was encouraged in his singing by his parents. He's dieted a bit, but likes cheese too much. He's looking forward to touring 2018. He did a few songs from both albums, and his Bond theme. He also did a skit where he sang at the wedding reception for a lesbian couple. Nice bloke, really.

MTV Brand New: Sam Smith
A repeat from Jan 2014, as Sam did a short set at Islington Academy, where he said Lay Me Down was the first song he wrote for that first album, and Together was a track he co-wrote with Nile Rodgers (a story I've not heard before, and you'd think Nile would mention it when he mentioned the other 95% of his collaborations). Anyway, Sam sounded good, and it was good to hear less familiar tracks than the singles.

The Biggest Weekend: Sam Smith
A star turn from Swansea, albeit prefaced for timing by a couple of tracks from Craig David. Sam belted out the tunes, spoke of being partway through a major tour, having finished in UK & Europe, and heading for the USA next. He does well to keep a balance between the ballads and the more danceable numbers.

His Calvin Harris collaboration, Promises, has finally crept up to the #1 spot.

misery guts wrote:His Calvin Harris collaboration, Promises, has finally crept up to the #1 spot.

After last week's bizarre interpolation from Dave, he's back to the top again.

His follow-up, Dancing with a Stranger, featuring Normani, did well, though didn't match Promises in reaching #1.

In other news, Sam has this week claimed to be non-binary.

His follow-up, How Do You Sleep? made the top 10, so he's still doing pretty well.

He's back with the title track from his new album:

To Die For

He's back again into the UK charts at #20, with help from Demi Lovato:

I'm Ready

Curious Olympics theme, though my first guess that it WAS meant for Tokyo seems to be wide of the mark.

Austin City Limits: Sam Smith / Anderson East
He was there to plug his 2nd album, and mentioned his previous trip 4 years earlier, which would have presumably been for his debut. He also talked about emotions and looks.
His set was bracketed with someone I've never heard of, but who had decent enough songs of his own, and who chatted about making his record, being from Alabama, and the merit in live shows.

His latest single Diamonds entered the top 40 last week at #22. His new album, now called Love Goes, was due out in June, but was yet another delayed by events, and is likely out at the end of the month.

Diamonds appears to be doing okay.

Later w/Jools Holland - Sam Smith
He chose a track by Amy Winehouse and spoke of hearing her music on car journeys, he also picked Adele and Feist, Lana Del Ray and Christine and the Queens. He'd mostly finished the new album before the pandemic.

Love Goes entered at #2, ahead of veteran Cliff Richard at 3, but behind the surprise return of Ariana Grande who got the #1 spot.

He's back with a new single, Unholy, which is apparently the lead-off for his imminent 4th album. Featuring German singer Kim Petras, it went straight to #1 this week 

Off the back of Unholy's success, Sam's new album Gloria was released this week, and went straight to #1, becoming the 3rd time this has happened. There was also a minor tittle-tattle news story about a video for new single I'm Not Here To Make Friends, which entered at #23.

Sam Smith - Live at the Royal Albert Hall
A solid enough hour-long show which included many hits and a few lesser known tracks, and finished to great crowd joy with Unholy, for which Kim Petras was present.

He's had to cancel a number of shows because of vocal chord problems  

BBC Proms '24 - Sam Smith
They're going from strength to strength, with Simon Hale conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra as Sam ran through their hits, with a few modest guest helpers, and some covers like My Funny Valentine and Over The Rainbow.