{"id":561364,"date":"2026-08-07T02:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/561364\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T02:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:32:09","slug":"sam-smith-lets-the-storm-roll-in-on-soulful-when-hes-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/561364\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Smith Lets The Storm Roll In On Soulful \u201cWhen He\u2019s Gone\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Collier Schorr<\/p>\n

Sam Smith lets heartbreak gather like distant thunder on \u201cWhen He\u2019s Gone,\u201d the third single from their forthcoming fifth studio album, \u2018Hazel Eyes.\u2019<\/p>\n

The song begins with little more than an acoustic groove and Smith\u2019s voice before gradually opening into something far larger, with ghostly backing vocals and a cinematic sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis album explores every shade of a relationship and \u2018When He\u2019s Gone\u2019 is more of a melancholy shade,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n

That melancholy comes from the fear of losing someone who has become inseparable from your sense of home, stability and everyday life.<\/p>\n

Smith recorded the original performance live without a click track, then built the arrangement around it to preserve the looseness and tension of the moment.<\/p>\n

The result moves with its own pulse. Its understated beginning carries shades of classic soul before the instrumentation steadily expands toward a dramatic crescendo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen He\u2019s Gone\u201d follows \u201cOh Mother,\u201d featuring the 28-member TwoCity Chorus, and the romantic \u201cMy Guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, the singles are revealing the emotional range of \u2018Hazel Eyes,\u2019 which Smith describes through different shades of intimacy, devotion, fear and love.<\/p>\n

The 12-song album was recorded over 3 years in spaces including New York City\u2019s Electric Lady Studios.<\/p>\n

Smith co-produced the record with David Odlum and Simon Aldred, while collaborators across the project include Feist, Shahzad Ismaily and string arranger Rob Moose.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hazel Eyes\u2019 follows 2023\u2019s \u2018Gloria,\u2019 the album that included Smith\u2019s global Kim Petras collaboration \u201cUnholy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new record also includes previously released songs \u201cLove Is A Stillness\u201d and \u201cTo Be Free,\u201d the latter giving its name to Smith\u2019s ongoing series of intimate residencies.<\/p>\n

Those shows have already welcomed surprise guests including Hozier, Ed Sheeran, Brandi Carlile, Sienna Spiro and Petras.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTo Be Free\u201d residency continues in Mexico later this month before moving to the U.K. in September for 2 nights at Manchester\u2019s Albert Hall and 8 performances at the London Coliseum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen He\u2019s Gone\u201d is available now, with \u2018Hazel Eyes\u2019 arriving August 21 through Capitol Records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Credit: Collier Schorr Sam Smith lets heartbreak gather like distant thunder on \u201cWhen He\u2019s Gone,\u201d the third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[276181,276182,276183,276184,276185,37126,96731,276186,276187,12564,276188,156,77304,191057,123499,276189,126829,75597,276190,157,111,139,69,276191,234575,276192,237096,276193,206600,276194,141538,54361],"class_list":["post-561364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-albert-hall","tag-auditorio-nacional","tag-auditorio-telmex","tag-avicii","tag-bill-withers","tag-bon-iver","tag-brandi-carlile","tag-damien-rice","tag-david-odlum","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-electric-lady-studios","tag-entertainment","tag-feist","tag-glen-hansard","tag-hozier","tag-josh-ritter","tag-kim-petras","tag-liam-gallagher","tag-london-coliseum","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rob-moose","tag-sam-smith","tag-shahzad-ismaily","tag-sienna-spiro","tag-simon-aldred","tag-the-national","tag-the-twocity-chorus","tag-warsaw","tag-yoko-ono"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}