Sam Smith's Fifth Album Hazel Eyes Is the Most Personal Record of Their Career

Sam Smith's fifth studio album, Hazel Eyes, is out today via Capitol Records UK — the most personal record of their career, by their own account, and the product of more than three years spent writing alongside a tight circle of collaborators in New York.

The album was announced in June alongside lead single "My Guy," a warm, unguarded love song Smith wrote about the city they now call home. "This is a song that I feel I have been waiting a lifetime to write and sing," Smith said of the track. "Written with beautiful friends on a summer's day in New York, this one fell out of the sky. In this sometimes cold and distant world, I hope you can feel the love and the closeness of this recording."

Most of the 12-track record took shape in New York, where Smith worked with co-producers Simon Aldred (Avicii, Liam Gallagher) and David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter), alongside indie-pop artist Feist and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, known for his work with Yoko Ono and Damien Rice. Sessions were partly recorded at the legendary Electric Lady Studios, and the result moves fluidly between baroque pop, British folk, outlaw country and left-field R&B, built around Smith's voice and, for the first time, their own production credit across the whole record. The album traces a real-time narrative arc, opening on the eve of falling in love with "Everlasting Love" and moving through the first years of a relationship.

"This album is an incredibly special record to me," Smith said. "I have been writing it for over three years with a very small group of beautiful, dear friends of mine. This album is very personal, and I feel I have deepened myself as an artist through the making of it, through being a producer on the record, to walking alongside this record from the start to the finish and pushing myself at every single turn." Of the album's directness, Smith added: "Being vulnerable isn't just about exposing your pain — it can be just as vulnerable to be openly romantic. And in the world we're living in right now, singing about queer love with complete honesty and directness feels very important."

Alongside the album's release, Smith has put out "Constant Companion" as the record's new single — a track unfolding with the danger and intrigue of a classic Western film, set against dusky guitar work and sweeping strings courtesy of Rob Moose (Bon Iver, The National). Its video was filmed in Spain by director Albert Moya, with choreography by (LA)HORDE.

Early reviews have been strong: Rolling Stone UK called it "the excellent return of Sam Smith," while The New York Times pointed to "a more handcrafted sound... Smith has a new clarity and confidence."

In the lead-up to release, Smith previewed the new material through an intimate global residency series, opening with a one-take vocal-and-guitar performance of "To Be Free" at Brooklyn's historic Warsaw before continuing to San Francisco, where they became one of the first artists to perform on the newly refurbished stage of the Castro Theatre. The shows blended fan favourites with unreleased songs from Hazel Eyes — including "My Guy" and the sultry Feist collaboration "Moondance" — and drew surprise guest appearances from Hozier, Ed Sheeran, Brandi Carlile, Sienna Spiro, Norah Jones and Kim Petras. The residency has since continued at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional and now heads to the UK in September, with two nights at Manchester's Albert Hall and eight at the London Coliseum, partnering with BBC Introducing to give ten emerging artists supporting slots.

Smith also took "My Guy" to television and awards stages worldwide ahead of the album's release, including its global performance debut at the inaugural MAJ Awards in Japan and a UK first on BBC Two's Later… with Jools Holland. In one of the more significant dates on the run, Smith performed at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center in New York over Pride weekend in June — the first LGBTQ+ visitor centre within the U.S. National Park Service, and a site honouring the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

Hazel Eyes tracklist:

1. Everlasting Love
2. Hazel Eyes
3. Moondance (feat. Feist)
4. My Guy
5. When He's Gone
6. Thief
7. Love Is A Stillness
8. Sugar Rush
9. Oh Mother (feat. The TwoCity Chorus)
10. Constant Companion
11. Hold On
12. To Be Free

A five-time GRAMMY winner, Smith holds two Guinness World Records — for the most consecutive weeks in the UK Top 10 Album Chart, set by their 2014 debut In the Lonely Hour, and for the first James Bond theme to reach No. 1 on the UK charts, with the Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning "Writing's on the Wall." Across In the Lonely Hour, The Thrill of It All, Love Goes and GLORIA — the latter home to the Kim Petras collaboration "Unholy," which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Smith has amassed more than 64 million adjusted album sales and 57 billion career streams. In Australia, In the Lonely Hour holds 7× Platinum accreditation, with The Thrill of It All and Love Goes each certified Platinum. They released the live album BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2025, following a performance at the festival. Hazel Eyes is their fifth studio album.