Sam Smith's Raw Return

The singer drank too much, battled writer’s block and saw a relationship fall apart – then poured it all into his ‘gritty’ new album

- Patrick Doyle

SAM SMITH WAS FEELING THE pressure. The English singer’s 2014 debut, In the Lonely Hour, was one of the biggest hits of the decade, selling 12.5 million copies and winning him four Grammys. He was tagged the male Adele and went from playing clubs to arenas in less than two years. But by early 2016, Smith had returned to London after two years of touring and found himself creatively paralyzed. “For the first two months, I really struggled,” he says. He had trouble writing about himself, he adds, “because I realized I didn’t actually like myself a lot.” Most nights, he’d go out drinking. “When you drink a lot, when you go out too much, the next day isn’t so fun. And when you’re really super sensitive and emotional, like I am, it’s just not good for you.”

In the end, though, Smith would channel all those dark feelings for his second album, due later this fall, which expands on the throwback soul of his first album, branching beyond breakup songs into new territory, including religion, self-doubt and his sexuality. Smith’s famous tenor is still impressive, but it sounds more weathered than before (“I’ve been smoking . . . more than 20 a day,” he sings at one point). “