GRAMMY®, BRIT, Golden Globe and Oscar-winning recording artist and songwriter Sam Smith has released his fifth studio album, Hazel Eyes, on Capitol Records (Universal Music Group). This extraordinary album turns a love story, chronicled as it unfolds, into a visionary reflection on what it means to live with an open heart. With Smith taking on the role of co-producer for the first time and working with the same circle of collaborators for the first time throughout the entire project, the album is the most emotionally direct and daring yet, with a refined unpredictable mix of genres including baroque pop, British folk, outlaw country and alternative R&B.
"In many ways, this album brought me closer to my own essence than ever before," says Smith. "He taught me to accept what comes naturally to me in my artistic work and to pay tribute to the music I love the most - timeless pop that connects people from all walks of life. He also showed me that vulnerability is not only the disclosure of pain, it can also be equally vulnerable to openly express romance. And in the world we live in today, it is very important to sing about queer love completely honestly and directly."
Sam Smith's new single "Constant Companion" unfolds with all the danger and intrigue of a classic western, blending deep intoned vocals with expansive layers of dusky guitars and lush strings by Rob Moose (Bon Iver, The National). The accompanying video, directed in Spain by Albert Moya and choreographed by the collective (LA)HORDE, brings the world of the song to life.
Sam Smith, photo: Universal Music Group promo
Hazel Eyes, three years in the making as a true project of love, was shaped during a period of major life change for Sam Smith, including falling in love and moving from his native England to New York. After 2023's "Gloria" (with the global hit "Unholy" performed by Sam Smith and Kim Petras), Smith begins a collaboration with co-producers Simon Aldred (Avicii, Liam Gallagher) and David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter), in search of an organic approach and a sound rooted in a real life story and the beauty of working together.
The work took place in legendary venues such as Electric Lady Studios in New York, with a close circle of visionary collaborators including indie-pop icon Feist, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (Damien Rice, Yoko Ono), Moose and, among others, the 28-member vocal collective TwoCity Chorus. The result is a consciously down-to-earth, yet endlessly enchanting sound that follows a narrative arc: from the eve of falling in love, in the opening track "Everlasting Love," to the first few years of the relationship. Named after the most open love song Smith has ever written, "Hazel Eyes" illuminates the path to a life based on trusting joy, unflinching devotion and radical honesty.
The album was preceded by the singles "When He's Gone", a poignant exploration of the fear of losing a loved one, described by The Guardian as "looser, more intimate", Rolling Stone as a "bluesy dirge" and Billboard as "perfectly creepy"; "Oh Mother," which grows into a hypnotic vocal dialogue between Sam Smith and the TwoCity Chorus collective, whose harmonies burn with feverish intensity; and "My Guy," a sublimely romantic track.
