It’s sometimes easy to forget what a massively successful artist Sam Smith is: five Grammys, an estimated 65 million albums sold and nearly 60 billion streams, a James Bond theme and multiple No. 1 singles all over the globe across a dozen-year career.
But after three multiplatinum albums that were basically in the same musical vein, Smith’s 2023 set “Gloria” was a major reset. In many ways, that album was about creative freedom — musically wide-ranging but surprisingly consistent, spanning from the menacing, global smash “Unholy” to ballads like “We Love Who We Love,” from the dancefloor-ready “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” to the baroque title track. It opened up a whole new lane for Smith in terms of image as well as music, especially with the provocatively sexual theme of “Unholy.” Smith had never hidden who they were, but they’d also never been quite so in-your-face about it either.
Creatively liberating as that album may have been, it’s a tough act to follow, and the only way to do it was another reset — which is exactly what Smith has done with “Hazel Eyes.” Granted, they’re coming from a very different place: With titles like “My Guy,” “Everlasting Love” and “Constant Companion” (not to mention the album’s cover artwork), Smith is obviously deeply in love and that’s what the songs are all about, although some are about the accompanying arguments and drama as well; Smith has also relocated to New York from their native England and has described the album as a “heartfelt ode” to their new home — although its often-hushed musical accompaniment hardly evokes the noise and bustle of NYC. And, not least, as Smith says in the album’s bio, “In the world we’re living in right now, singing about queer love with complete honesty and directness feels very important.”
