If you haven’t been moved by Sam Smith’s incredible voice and heart wrenching vocals then we may have to question if you’re really human at all – the man is an absolute legend!
As 2015 draws to an end and the new year brings with it a promise of a hiatus from some of music’s biggest stars – including Sam Smith himself – we decided to compile 5 of his most beautiful songs and their heartbreaking lyrics from his ‘In The Lonely Hour’ album.
5. Stay With Me
“Deep down I know this never works, but you can lay with me so it doesn’t hurt”
We’ve all been in a relationship that we know is unhealthy, and we’ve all wanted it long beyond when it was good for us. Sometimes the most toxic relationships are also the most passionate, and with that passion comes the inability to see things clearly. This lyric is raw and honest, open and vulnerable; it says ‘I know you’re no good for me, but stay anyway because it hurts when you’re here, but it’s worse when you’re gone’.
4. Good Thing
“We talk maybe twenty times a day and still I never say what I want to say”
If you’ve been lucky enough to see Sam Smith in concert, before he sings this song, he gives the audience a preview into his mind when he wrote it. He says that this was inspired by an ex lover, one that he wanted to stay with but realized that it wouldn’t ever work. The sentiment of the song is simple – sometimes good things just don’t stay good. There are lovers, relationships, and even friendships that fulfill deep desires within us and almost as quickly as they do, end up cutting us deeper than we’ve ever been cut. This specific lyric is honest in nature and straight to the point – no matter how many times a day you talk, there’s never room for the important conversation – never a space to say what needs to be said. If you can’t voice your opinions or be honest in a relationship, it’s never going to go anywhere at all.
3. Leave Your Lover
“Oh, I’m in love with you and you will never know, but if I can’t have you I want this life alone”
This one could go without explanation at all, the entire song’s message is wanting someone you can’t have in full, but someone you’ve had parts of. This isn’t about unrequited love, it’s about love that’s returned, but not at it’s full capacity because the person you love – well they love someone else too. You’re probably best friends with this person, watching them in a situation that doesn’t give them what they deserve. You’ve probably seen this person hurt, suffer, and been their soft place to land…you’ve given them everything they deserve and they’ve seen it. They’ve told you that you’re perfect and kind and you make it all better and for a moment you feel it, the love they have for you…and a few days later they’re back in the same cycle that hurts them – and hurts you too. This sort of love stings because it’s just within your reach, but never yours to hold.
2. Not In That Way
“I’d never ask you ’cause deep down I’m certain I know what you’d say…you’d say, “I’m sorry, believe me, I love you but not in that way.”
Unrequited love seems to be the love that’s hardest to let go of – if for nothing else but the simple “what if”. What if one day they realize that you’re the one, what if one day they stop and see what you’ve got to offer, what if one day – they see that they’ve loved you all along? There’s something almost admirable in holding out hope, but sometimes that only hurts you worse at the end. There are some people who see the full capacity of your heart and walk away from it, and while it’s crushing in the moment…it only leaves a spot for the right person to love you when the time comes. That doesn’t make it hurt any less in the moment though, and that’s what this song is about. The moments that hurt when all your heart wants is to love, and it can’t..
Now for number one and perhaps Sam Smith’s single most heart wrenching song of all….
1. Reminds Me of You
“And God knows I’ve tried, looking for lovers at night…but each time I do, it only reminds me of you”
This is singlehandedly Sam Smith’s most underrated track, there aren’t even words appropriate enough to describe it’s depth. This song is one that is all too relatable, and all to painful through the journey. You’re at the point in your life where a relationship has ended and you can’t do anything without being reminded of the person that you lost. The entire city, the buildings, the places, the people – it all reminds you of what you had, what you lost. The vulnerability in Sam’s voice through the song only intensifies the emotions he’s singing about. There’s another part where he sings ‘I’ve gotta get out of here, go kiss another face – cause it hurts too bad and I don’t like the taste’. We’ve all experienced that pain, where you want to rid yourself from them entirely, but you can’t because when you try – it’s even more awful than missing them in the first place. This song is the most passionate on his album, it’s the most honest.
So in 2016 and when Sam takes a hiatus to enjoy being young, to live and to love – we’ve got an entire album full of tracks to play while we miss his impact on music, while we experience our own love and loss, and while we wait for his triumphant return!