Even without the beautifully shot video, Smith tells the story of this track with clarity and desperate passion. Smith recently went to Paris with model and actress Daisy Lowe to record a music video for the heart wrenching ‘Leave Your Lover’. It’s one of the more upbeat tracks on the record showing off Smith’s falsetto in a different setting, putting to shame those that say he’s not a diverse artist. Co-written with Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, it’s very well put together and could be a successful commercial track to show another side of Smith to the buying public. ‘Restart’ has a Luther Vandross disco vibe. ‘Like I Can’ is dangerously similar to Adele’s ‘Set Fire to The Rain’ with progressive guitar strums opening the track, but luckily it turns into another fantastic pop-come-gospel belter held together by the glue of Smith’s passionate vocals. Imagine rolling hills, birds singing, lovers skipping, and then allow that to melt away as Smith comes in with the lyrics he hits you right in the feelings as you think ‘blimey, that sounds familiar’.
Sam smith in the lonely hour new version movie#
The grand orchestral opening of ‘Good Thing’ sounds like Smith has stepped right off the back of a movie set. I’m pleased to say, Smith doesn’t hit any bum notes. The real excitement comes in the form of the previously unheard tracks, as well as these demos blossoming into beautifully produced, finished songs. Smith has been releasing versions of the tracks from the album here and there over the past few months, and these are now familiar favourites for fans. The honest, meta lyrics about being signed to a label and becoming another cog in the songwriting money making machine are perfectly executed. Produced by Two Inch Punch it is a snappy and effective, delicious, infectious pop song. ‘Money on my Mind’ opens the record and it is miles apart from the rest of the album in terms of genre. It gets right under the skin, in the best way possible. Smith’s voice has equal soul, power and passion to the two aforementioned artists, but it is completely unique. In The Lonely Hour has undoubtedly come under scrutiny for failing to break the mould set by the likes of heavyweight vocalists Adele and Emeli Sande, in fact every review I’ve read so far draws these predictable comparisons. Coming in at number one with ‘Money On My Mind’ removed Smith from the bubble of being ‘only a featured artist’ and, as predicted by the industry, Smith is now in the midst of a stratospheric rise to fame I can’t think of anyone more deserving of it either. Topping the BBC’s Sound of 2014 and winning The Brits Critics Choice award in the same year added fuel to a fire that had been on the back-burner for quite some time. Naughty Boy’s ‘La La La’ was the next track that featured Smith’s incredible voice, although still a featured artist, his voice was becoming a staple in the pop music scene. Since emerging into the mainstream as a very talented featured artist joining Disclosure on their breakthrough single ‘Latch’, the country have sat up and started paying attention to the 22 year old from London. Sam Smith has been drip feeding us snippets of his début album, In The Lonely Hour, over the past twelve months, and for some of us, it has been a long time coming.