“The Thrill Of It All” By Sam Smith

Final Rating: 7.5/10

Sam Smith released his second album “The Thrill Of it All” on November 3rd. He gave fans a little taste of what was to come when he released his now lead single Too Good at Goodbyes in September. It’s is a piano heavy ballad with his amazing vocals over it, showing us that he’s had one too many encounters with breakups and that his album would be a collection of love songs that include an abundance of heartbreak, loss and sorrow.

His first album, “The Lonely Hour”, came out in 2014 and since then he hadn’t been very active in the music community but he really come back with a bang. Digging deeper into his feelings than he did in “The Lonely Hour” he gave us this tragically romantic album. Come the release of “The Thrill Of it All”, with 14 tracks, it gives you a look at his experiences of all the pain and struggling he has gone through in finding love and acceptance.

After the release of his hit single Too Good at Goodbyes in September, Smith said “I’ll never write happy songs.” Fully embracing his vulnerability and being the voice people listen to when they’re sad. This also gave a big hint to how this album was going to play out come November.

In most of his songs you can hear the pain in his voice, for example, in the third track Burning he sings of the feeling when someone you love has up and left, the feeling in his chest and how alone he feels. His fourth track Midnight Train gives a different perspective of Sam Smith being the one who has to leave because deep down he knows it won’t last. He sings about the sorrow and guilt he feels for hurting someone he loves as well as being afraid of hurting the family he had since become close to. To me it sends a message that you should be able to have love for yourself before you can love anyone else.

Say It First is one of my favourite tracks on the album. The song has a bit of a more upbeat sound to it but it’s also very moving and I find his vulnerability in it intriguing. I think that a lot of people who listen to will be able to relate to the fear of being in it alone.

The sixth track on the album HIM, is quite a powerful song. He sings of coming out to his father and about the man he loves. You can hear the worry in his voice about being accepted by others and more than most by his father. This song makes the album stand out a little more than others because you don’t always see topics like this especially from such an influential artist and I admire him greatly for being able to be so open and accepting.

Although this album is quite dark and heartbreaking there are a couple tracks with some light in them, for example, Scars he thanks his family for being there for him and helping him heal. I also looked at One Last Song as a more positive message of finally coming to accept letting someone go and moving on.

To top it all off of how amazing this album is not even two weeks after being released it became number one in the US. His ability to be so emotionally open to the world through this album is quite amazing to me. Each song on this album, although all being sad love songs, has its own unique twist to it some have the heartfelt piano in the background or some will have the upbeat drum beating with Sam Smith’s amazing range over It. I’m sure fans will be able to find comfort in this music and this album.