Album Review: Sam Smith – ‘Love Goes’

Renowned heartbreak royal, Sam Smith first took the world by storm in 2014 with their smash-hit ‘Stay With Me.’ Their sorrowful lyrics and longing voice paired together to form a successful team for the singer, as they went on to sweep the GRAMMY Awards the following year.

While Smith has not seen the heights they attained as far as commercial success goes, the singer has nonetheless continued to put out quality albums.

Their latest release, ‘Love Goes,’ is no different in terms of quality material.

Just us below where we drive into Smith’s latest offering…

Romance is all that matters in their universe and it is clear to see on ‘Love Goes,’ where it is all-important, almost all-consuming even when it goes wrong.

Propelling their universe is their otherworldly vocals. Both powerful and defenseless, Smith finds strength in vulnerability to reflect on longing, loneliness, and regret.

‘Breaking Hearts’ is a prime example of this. This Sam Cooke-inspired hymn was written with James Napier and reminisces on the singer catching a lover cheating with both parts melancholy and scorn.

In ‘Another One’ Smith deploys sorrowful sarcasm-“Oh congratulations, you found the one“- as they take to the dance floor to dance the pain away.

‘Diamonds’ indicts an ex whose intentions lay with material objects, “Now I know just what you love me for,” they sing. Structurally similar to Gloria Gaynor‘s disco-classic ‘I Will Survive,’ ‘Diamonds’ is equally as sorrowful and self-aware.

However, not all songs are able to land such a mark.

Take for example, ‘Dance (’Til You Love Someone Else)’ that clearly set out to remake Robyn‘s 2010 classic, ‘Dancing on My Own.’ While the track attempts to mix vintage electro and disco, the concoction ultimately becomes unbalanced and poisons the song.

That is one of the main faults of the album, unbalanced production.

A prime example of this is ‘For The Lover That I Lost,’ where the sugary strings skew too sweet for the bitterness that lies with the lyric, “you’re the last thing that I need.“

With this LP, Smith delivers a sorrowful collection of the ways in, which love goes. They wear it like a badge of honor, not fighting its direction, but simply letting it flow where it must. Every rejection, every happily-never-after is just another reason for them to take their pain, put it in a song and let the love and pain flood its way to the happy ending they long for.

That Grape Juice Rating:

3.5/5 Stars

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Your thoughts?

[Photo Credit: Capitol Records]

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