Singer-songwriter Smith startled by sudden fame
NEW YORK — Sam Smith thought he had cracked it — it being “fame.”
He released the first single from his new album, the groovy burner Too Good at Goodbyes, and didn’t put his face on the single artwork or do much TV promotion for the song. He felt like he had re-entered the celebrity world without dealing with the usual drama that comes with being famous.
Two months later, when the album came out, things changed, and the “freak out” happened.
“I get really upset because it was literally overnight. As soon as the album came out, everyone was recognizing me again, and it scares me,” said Smith, days after his second album, The Thrill of It All, was released. “Whenever the fame stuff gets mad again, I just remind myself what I am. I am a singer. I’m a songwriter. I’m here to make music. I don’t want to fuel gossip, you know?”
That’s been the biggest struggle for the performer since he found success — the balance of Sam the celebrity, a normal twenty-something who has to live his life with constant cameras around him, and Sam the singer, who just wants to perform songs he’s written about his life.
He achieved a breakthrough almost as soon as he hit the music scene: In Europe it was with Latch, the electronic dance hit with Disclosure, and in the United States with Stay With Me, the winner of both record and song of the year Grammys in 2015.
His debut album, In the Lonely Hour, launched more hits, reached multi-platinum status and was lauded for its emotional songs and Smith’s strong vocals. He won about every major award — from Grammys to a Golden Globe. He was even named best new artist at the BET Awards.
But it wasn’t all golden: The inevitable backlash that comes with mainstream success also hit Smith. The star was lambasted after the 2015 Academy Awards, when he took home an Oscar and he inaccurately said he was the first openly gay person to win the prestigious award.
“My Oscar speech — that was my fault,” said Smith, who won best original song for Writing’s on the Wall from the James Bond film Spectre. “If I’m going to say something on a big scale like that in front of nine million people I should go over it again, and again, and again, till it’s cemented in my mind.”