Sam Smith's fifth studio album, Hazel Eyes, does not come out until August 21, but Smith has already begun recording a sixth.
Speaking on The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast, Smith described the new project as a departure from Hazel Eyes, which was recorded using live performers singing and playing instruments in the studio. The follow-up has no title yet, but its sound is already taking shape. According to Billboard, Smith described it this way: "It's more electro and more intense. I just make all different weird sounds and scream into the microphone and free myself." Smith added that those sounds sometimes "get turned into wild things you would never imagine."
Smith is known for large, near-operatic ballads such as "Stay With Me" and "Too Good at Goodbyes," but also reached a chart peak with a very different kind of song. The 2022 collaboration with Kim Petras, "Unholy," hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, marking a career peak for both artists.
Like Hazel Eyes, the new album is also centered on Smith's relationship with fiance and fashion designer Christian Cowan, though the tone shifts significantly. Hazel Eyes Smith described as "this deep confession, a new traditional queer love romance album, that's how I see it." The unnamed follow-up captures a different side of the same relationship. "Whilst I've been making that, I'm also really hungry to shake my t–ties and encapsulate … the way I feel in my relationship where I feel … I'm still 34 and I love to dance and I'm free and I'm still inspired, like, intense hyper pop electro sounds. And so I'm also doing that too," Smith said.
Hazel Eyes follows 2023's Gloria, which reached number seven on the Billboard 200 and included the Petras collaboration "Unholy."
