Sam Smith- 'In The Lonely Hour' Album Review

This week has been very much the same as the last in terms of my top 5 songs of the week.. so as a substitute post I thought I would write a, rather lengthy, review about one of my top 5 albums of all-time. Yep, you guessed it from the title, it's the incredible Sam Smith with his debut album In The Lonely Hour. Now I know it's been a couple of months since it was released but I have been listening to it non-stop ever since, in an attempt to immerse myself in the music, because I really wanted to be able to write a review worthy of this phenomenal album!

Sam Smith, boldly emerged onto the music scene when he featured on Disclosure's worldwide smash hit, Latch and similarly Naughty Boy's- La La La which are both featured on the album, but are tracks that I am not going to go into great detail about as I'm sure you are very familiar with them. His debut album, released on the 26th May 2014 is very much a microcosm for the, now 22 year old's, seemingly lonely life during the previous year.
As shown by songs such as Leave Your Lover and Not In That Way, Sam creates empathetic tracks for those stuck in the same situation that he faced, loving someone who doesn't love you back.

Album opener Money On My Mind was the first single that Sam released as a well know and well-established artist in the music industry. The meaning behind the song, was very much about Sam getting something off of his chest after a run in with someone in the industry, as shown by lyrics such as, "You say could you write a song for me, I say, I'm sorry I won't do that happily." This song is probably the anomaly, in terms of sound, on the album. Whilst the others have quite a soulful sound, this track is seemingly more, pop-influenced and electronic sounding. This debut single seems to have worked wonders on us Brits, as it gave Sam his first solo, UK number 1.

According to Sam himself, Good Thing is the most personal song on the album for him. In an interview with Google Play, Sam talks about how he wrote the song two days after he decided that he had to cut the strings with this mysterious person who didn't love him back. He opens the song with the abnormally truthful lyric, "I had a dream I was mugged outside your house." Now I don't know about you, but Sam Smith is probably one very few people that I can think of who can make that line sound remotely heartfelt and beautiful, without sounding like Phil Mitchell? Just me? Anyway, just listening to his voice, you can hear how exhausted and numb, this unreciprocated relationship has made him sound and feel, the raw truthfulness of the lyrics throughout, is backed up by a beautiful string section which opens the very beginning of the track and makes a very apt and slightly extended reoccurrence, three quarters of the way through.

Keeping with the theme of truthful and quite frankly abrupt, opening lyrics, Stay With Me sees Sam whip out a corker, "I guess it's true I'm not good at a one night stand." Now if there's one thing that you simply cannot say about Sam Smith, it's that he's not truthful. This man has just admitted something that most people wouldn't admit to their friends let alone the whole world! In my opinion, that is the sole reason that this song is adored and screamed by millions, this song, along with Lay Me Down encapsulates wanting to be with someone but never being able to articulate it in a face to face situation. These truthful lyrics, and in fact this whole album in general is one of, if not the most relatable album since Adele's '19' and '21'.  The backing vocals in the chorus, sound as if they are those of a gospel choir, when in fact, it's Sam's own voice layered over the top of itself multiple times, as he sang in different areas of the recording studio. Bet you didn't know that!

Leave Your Lover is one of my personal favourites on the album, the meaning behind this song is pretty self explanatory from the title. Based on wanting to be with someone who is already married or in a relationship, this song sees a softer side to Sam both vocally and instrumentally and features his effortless breathy voice (and yes breathy is a real word, I've even searched it here.) To my delight, Sam released a video to accompany this track which you can see here, the video features his good friend Daisy Lowe and the city of love itself. Sam mentions that the strings in this track, have Parisian connotations, which explains the very apt choice of video setting.

I'm Not The Only One is very much the song of the moment for me as Sam has literally just today, released the video for this track, which voila! You can see here. Again, the title is pretty self-explanatory in regards to the meaning behind the song, however the steady, droning drumbeat throughout makes this song slightly more anthemic sounding in comparison to others on the album.

The sheer resilience and matter-of-fact chorus, secures I've Told You Now as another firm favourite of mine. Very much about accidentally letting your feelings slip out to the person that you have admired from afar, this song is structured in a seemingly narrative way. The beginning of the song depicts the admiration from a far, with lyrics such as "still I refrain, from talking at you." Then in the chorus, the hard-hitting, verging on argumentative, lyrics, show the frustration at the lack of realisation and hint taking! The intensity and volume of the strings increases in direct correlation with the lyrics, a very fitting choice of instrumentation.

Keeping with the theme of resilience and unfazed honesty, Like I Can ticks all the boxes, this is a song, very much like 'Mr Brightside' in Bridget Jones, that I can see many women (and men!) drunkenly screaming at the top of their lungs, in a flailing attempt to increase their alluring qualities. An anthemic pop song with an underlying tone of jealously. Sam sums up this song perfectly: "You're looking at someone you love and they're getting with everyone except you. And you're jut thinking why? why are you doing that? Because no-one will love you the way that I will." Sam also mentions taking inspiration for this song from Oleta Adams' Get Here (If You Can) where she lists all of the ways that her love could reach her, similarly with this song, Sam lists all of the people that his lover has been with.

Next up is Life Support, honestly, this is my least favourite song on the album. Sam has mentioned that when he wrote this song, it was like an experiment and that he tried a lot of new things out whilst in that writing and recording process. Now I admire Sam for trying things out from a different angle, but for me personally the instrumentation just seems a bit too disjointed and the track as a whole doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the tracks. Nevertheless, the lyrics are beautiful as expected, but let me know what you think? Is it just me?

Personally, Not In That Way is hands down the most relatable song on the album for me. Starting with the instrumentation, the simplicity of the single guitar, allows for the impeccably accurate lyrics to do all the talking. There isn't really much to say about the lyrics in writing, except from the fact that on paper, they hit the nail straight on the head when it comes to those "I only see you as a friend" situations. My best piece of advice is simply to listen to the song and really consciously absorb the lyrics, (if you're in a sad/feeling sorry for yourself mood, I guarantee that you will cry.) To lighten the mood, this song is perfect for everyone out there who has ever been 'friend zoned'. Do with that what you will!

If Not In That Way didn't make you teary eyed, Lay Me Down definitely will! This song was actually the first song that Sam ever released, however as he was still very much an emerging artist, the song was released on the 15th February 2013 but charted at a throughly undeserved number 134 (due to the fact that he was a new artist.) However it re-entered the charts on 23rd February at number 46 (still a thoroughly low position in my eyes!) after being mentioned by James Corden at the 2014 Brit Awards. Simply put, this song is utterly, beautiful, spellbinding even. The versatility of this song is shown first hand, because personally I listened to this song and immediately drew connotations of love. However when Sam wrote this song with Jimmy Napes (a key gentleman in this album process) Jimmy and himself were thinking about the deaths of their own grandparents or the grandparents of those close to them.
There are numerous covers of this on Youtube for you to feast your eyes, (and more importantly your ears) upon. However Sam's performance on Saturday Night Live is flawless. The sole and steady accompaniment of the piano, allows Sam to effortlessly project the famous "can I lay by your side" line on the chorus, completely silencing and captivating the audience throughout.

Now coming onto to possibly my new favourite song of all time (huge claim I know) I present Restart. A mix between Alexander O'Neal's Criticize, and Luther Vandross' Never Too Much, this song is the epitome of feel-good. The instrumentation and production of this track is incredible. Numerous layers of Sam's faultless harmonies, various electronic loops and of course the recurring piano, categorise this song in to the pop/dance genre, alongside Vandross, O'Neal and Benson. This song also stands out from the rest, as it is clearly the anomaly on the album (in the best sense possible). Sam describes this song as his release from loneliness, whilst the other tracks are quite intense and meaningful, this song is so upbeat and carefree, which he says, reflects the direction of his next album (woo!). Just trust me on this one, if you're getting ready to go out now (you must be trying to pass time if you're reading this..)  then whack this on, and you will be dancing around your bedroom and singing into your hairbrushes (I'm talking about males here too.)

Written with the infamous Jimmy Napes, and the Howard Lawrence, from the equally infamous duo Disclosure, Make It To Me is a more simplistic but nevertheless beautiful and seemingly hopeful, love song. The concept? Speaking to your soulmate, even though in most people's cases, you don't know who they are, it's basically a hopeful command of "make it to me" (shock horror). In my opinion, I prefer this live version, featuring the handsome Mr Lawrence on piano. (My preference is not solely due to my crush on Howard... I do think that Sam's live performances are a lot more soulful and meaningful as you can see the emotion on his face, which makes the song a lot more personal in my eyes.

I don't think it will come to any surprise to you to know that I've given this album a thoroughly deserved 5/5.

P.S: If you're reading this, thank you for making it this far. Gold star for you!