Sam Smith drives the album as a vocalist.
However, this is where my Adele comparison comes in. After the fourth song you realize that it’s just going to be one serving of desperate yearning delivered in easy to take tablets of pop and soul. Where my praise turns to some criticism is that there is a monotony in the tone of the album. The album could have quickly fell to something insincere matching what he was just condemning in “Money on My Mind”, but instead it takes a genuine approach through soulful R&B tunes like “Stay With Me” and “Good Thing.” It’s a theme that makes for some powerful songs that purge the emotion of a man who is almost frustrated with what his love life has become. I understand the compulsion to have a cohesive theme on an album. Adele did it with 21 and its theme of scorned love and Arcade Fire had The Suburbs’ theme of regret and wasted youth, but Sam Smith decides to go with the hopeless yearning and complaints of unrequited love. However, the rest of the album doesn’t hold up to its fantastic opening. I think it’s Smith’s defining song on the album and of him as an artist. The neat production by Two Inch Punch and Smith’s punchy vocals make for a compelling song about denouncing the entire music industry structure from writing for taste or being a puppet to the industry. It’s reminiscent of a song off of Disclosure’s Settle. It treads along the line of a new string of artists condemning the luxurious lifestyle that has swept the industry. “Money on My Mind” is such a strong start to the album and probably one of the best of the album. However, my biggest issues with the album are rooted in the music itself. His contributions to “Latch ” and Naughty Boy’s “La La La” are invaluable, but I think that they are put to best use in this album. He has been on my radar since I discovered him through Disclosure’s single “Latch.” There’s no denying that he has a phenomenal and unique voice that should be capitalized on.
There was one thing on my mind when I first listened through Sam Smith’s debut album “In the Lonely Hour” and that was Adele.
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