SAM SMITH RELEASES SOULFUL STUNNER “WHEN HE’S GONE”
NEW ALBUM HAZEL EYES OUT AUGUST 21
“…A MORE HANDCRAFTED SOUND…SMITH HAS A NEW CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES
Today, GRAMMY®, BRIT, Golden Globe, and Oscar-winning artist and songwriter Sam Smith releases “When He’s Gone,” the third single from their new album Hazel Eyes, set to arrive on August 21 via Capitol Records. Built on a soulful acoustic groove that climbs to a staggering crescendo, the new song confronts the all-consuming fear of losing someone who’s become integral to your world. Go HERE to listen to “When He’s Gone” and go HERE to pre-save/order Hazel Eyes.
In its raw opening moments, “When He’s Gone” can’t help but evoke the warmth and depth of Bill Withers (whom Sam covered on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last year). But as they paint a vivid picture — “Hate it when you speak to me, with cruel and careless words / Everything you say to me, can’t you see it hurts?” — the music unfurls, too, incorporating ghostly backing vocals and the starkly epic atmosphere of old Western cinema. Against that backdrop, the chorus conveys a soul-deep torment: “When he’s walking out on me, he takes everything I need / My whole world’s broken when he’s gone.”
“This album explores every shade of a relationship and ‘When He’s Gone’ is more of a melancholy shade,” says Sam. “We captured it live without a click track and built everything around that original recording to preserve the feeling of a storm rumbling in the distance.”
Sam covered The New York Times’ Arts & Leisure section on Sunday, and spoke extensively of the open-hearted creative origins and deeply personal inspirations behind their forthcoming fifth studio album. The newspaper credited Hazel Eyes’ with having “a more handcrafted sound” and wrote that “Smith has a new clarity and confidence,” all of which comes through on each of the singles released thus far.
“When He’s Gone” follows last month’s rollicking “Oh Mother,” featuring The TwoCity Chorus, which channels a fierce longing for maternal comfort in the face of a lover’s deception. The soul-searing track centers on a spellbinding call-and-response between Sam and the 28-member vocal collective, whose harmonies blaze with a feverish intensity — “summoning a sort of divine feminine energy,” Sam notes.
Before that came “My Guy,” a sublimely romantic track released alongside a music video that doubled as a moving portrait of domestic bliss. “My Guy” won rave reviews from the likes of SPIN, who called it “a buoyant celebration of fully requited love” with harmonies from Feist and Moses Sumney “adding a playful, girl-group-inspired flourish to its lovestruck sentiment.” Meanwhile, CBS News Sunday Morning dubbed “My Guy” “a step forward from LGBTQ love songs being marginalized” and “a hit-worthy ballad where one little repeated noun makes a big advancement — revolution has never sounded so gentle.”
The follow-up to Sam’s 2023 LP Gloria (featuring their global smash single “Unholy” with Kim Petras), Hazel Eyes unfoldsas amodern fairytale of requited love, pairing unguarded intimacy with gorgeously layered storytelling and a singular sound rooted in the vitality of live instrumentation. To bring the album to life, Sam recorded in legendary spaces like New York City’s Electric Lady Studios and co-produced alongside David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter) and Simon Aldred (Avicii, Liam Gallagher).
Together, they worked with a close circle of visionary collaborators including indie-pop luminary Feist, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Damien Rice), and string arranger Rob Moose (Bon Iver, The National). Three years in the making, the 12-song set pushes into daring territory while staying grounded in the luminous vocal work that’s made Sam one of their generation’s most celebrated singers.
Hazel Eyes will also feature the previously released piano ballad “Love Is A Stillness” and the soaring denouement “To Be Free.” Praised by Stereogum for spotlighting their “immensely powerful voice,” the latter lent its name to Sam’s acclaimed run of global residencies, which launched last fall at Brooklyn’s historic Warsaw. Blending beloved hits with unreleased songs from Hazel Eyes, the To Be Free series has featured surprise appearances from Hozier, Ed Sheeran, Brandi Carlile, SIENNA SPIRO, and Petras.
Offering the rare opportunity to experience Sam’s live show in intimate venues, the residency continues later this month at Auditorio Telmex in Guadalajara, followed by four nights at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional. Sam has also announced a UK residency for September which will include two performances at Manchester’s Albert Hall and eight nights at the London Coliseum. Dates below and more info HERE.
Sam Smith Live Dates
Aug 14 – Guadalajara, MX @ Auditorio Telemex
Aug 17 – Mexico City, MX @ National Auditorium
Aug 18 – Mexico City, MX @ National Auditorium
Aug 20 – Mexico City, MX @ National Auditorium
Aug 21 – Mexico City, MX @ National Auditorium
Sep 03 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sep 04 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Sep 08 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 09 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 11 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 12 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 15 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 16 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 18 – London, UK @ Coliseum
Sep 19 – London, UK @ Coliseum
About Sam Smith Sam Smith is one of the most celebrated musical artists in recent history. A five-time GRAMMY® winner, Sam holds two Guinness World Records — for the most consecutive weeks in the U.K. Top 10 Album Chart (for their 2014 debut, In the Lonely Hour) and for having the first James Bond theme to reach No.1 on the U.K. charts (for the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning “Writing’s On the Wall”). Sam has amassed over 64 million equivalent album sales, 392 million single sales, and over 57 billion career streams across their catalog of critically acclaimed albums: In the Lonely Hour, The Thrill of It All, Love Goes, and Gloria, which Rolling Stone praised as “their deepest album yet,” and includes the global smash single “Unholy” ft. Kim Petras. “Unholy” spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks at No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, marking Sam’s eighth to top the tally. In June 2025, Sam released their stunning live album BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. In July 2025, they returned with “To Be Free,” a soulful acoustic song exploring how vulnerability can unlock bravery and freedom, quickly earning critical praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone (“Sam Smith feels light as a feather”), Billboard (“one of their most striking songs in years”), and Stereogum (“heart string-pulling … immensely powerful”), among others. Sam will release their highly anticipated fifth studio album Hazel Eyes on August 21.
