![in the lonely hour album tracklist in the lonely hour album tracklist](https://images.genius.com/bef1d6053ec5c4e2d27f9f7035f9f966.1000x1000x1.jpg)
“Stay With Me”: Smith wowed an audience likely seeing him for the first time with this stunning cut on “Saturday Night Live.” In it, he turns a desperate plea for a one-night stand to stay into an eloquent statement on being a sensitive man who knows what he wants, but has no illusions that he’ll get it. Here lie the first hints of trouble in Smith’s relationship, from a dream that he was mugged outside his beloved’s house to the worse realization that he dared think his love was reciprocated. “Good Thing”: Beginning with swelling strings that spill into a muted guitar line like teardrops breaking (yes, it’s that dramatic), the second track is the real beginning of the end that “In the Lonely Hour” is all about. The first official single is a bit of a bait-and-switch: those kinds of synthesizers don’t set the tone for the record but reappear until the very end, and at first listen it’s easy to focus on the blaring chorus and miss the “I don’t have” that sneaks up beforehand. “Money On My Mind”: “Money On My Mind” kicks off the album on a sprightly note, with a crisp, skittering backbeat and chopped-up backing exhalations. “After writing the album,” he told Billboard, “I felt I’d given everything out, and I’m willing to keep doing that with my music for the rest of my life.” Here’s to seeing how he keeps pouring his heart out. Every story of unrequited love that’s been put to song is powerful in its own right, but Smith’s admission that the object of his affection was a man - besides being a brave thing to do - put to rest any speculation of his sexuality and set an emotionally open tenor for the rest of his career. The album was re-released in November 2015 as In the Lonely Hour (Drowning Shadows Edition), which features 12 new tracks, including the Disclosure single "Omen" (which features vocals from Smith), the Comic Relief version of "Lay Me Down" featuring John Legend, and covers of Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" and Amy Winehouse's "Love Is a Losing Game".Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Linkin Park All Have Super Sales Week AheadĪnd Smith bares more than his vocal cords on this record. In the Lonely Hour also received a nomination for Best British Album at the 2015 Brit Awards the accolade ultimately went to Ed Sheeran for x. It was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, winning the latter and losing to Morning Phase by Beck in the former. It was the second best-selling album of 2014 in the UK, and the third best-selling of 2014 in the United States. The album was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Upon its release, In the Lonely Hour received mostly lukewarm reviews from critics, many of whom praised Smith's vocal performance but were critical of the songwriting. A deluxe edition of the album contains five bonus tracks, including a solo acoustic version of Disclosure's single "Latch" and Naughty Boy's number-one single "La La La", on both of which Smith provided guest vocals. The album's third hit single, "I'm Not the Only One", reached number three in the UK and number five in the US. The album includes the hit singles "Money on My Mind" and "Stay with Me", both of which were number one in the UK the latter becoming a hit worldwide, peaking in the top ten in over 20 countries, including reaching number two in the US. In the United States, it was released on 17 June 2014 through Capitol Records America. It was released in the United Kingdom on, via Capitol UK and Method Records. In the Lonely Hour is the debut studio album by English singer Sam Smith.