While Sam Smith was writing their debut album, In Lonely Hour, allowed the identity of each song's subject to remain mostly ambiguous. The record is essentially gender-neutral, barring a moment on hit single “Stay With Me” where the musician – who now identifies as non-binary – sings: “Guess it's true, I'm no good at a one-night stand/ But I Still Need Love 'Cause I'm Just A Man As the record celebrates its 10th anniversary, Smith leaves that distinction behind.
The singer-songwriter has recorded a new version of 'Stay With Me' which replaces the verse with: 'But I still need love, baby understand.' In a statement shared with their fans, Smith explained the decision to change the career-defining song after a decade. “It's nice to know that sometimes, we can change the past,” they shared, noting that the change “felt very important to me.”
As Smith grew and evolved as both a person and an artist, so did the music they created as a young 20-something stumbling through an amorous haze of unrequited love. “When me, Jimmy and Tourist wrote this song, none of us could have expected it to become what it has,” they wrote. “I'll never forget Will (Tourist) playing those three chords on the piano. I stopped everything I was doing and said “what is this”. Those chords and that song still move me the same way to this day. I never get tired of singing it.”
Smith added: “The meaning of this song changes for me every time I sing it. The words 'Stay with me' can mean a million different things and follow me throughout my life like an old friend.”
In 2019, Smith spoke with album-in-the-lonely-hour-queer-record” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>Outside about breaking down gender boundaries at In Lonely Hour. “I had it with my first album, In the Lonely Hour. I'm in a suit and in that suit, I was channeling Judy Garland. I look back at these videos of me when I was 20 and I see a feminine energy,” they said. “I was singing songs about a married man I was in love with, and we didn't kiss, nothing happened between us, but I was so in love with him and I was tortured. I remember releasing the album thinking it would sound that way—that it was a queer record—but it wasn't received that way. Now I realized that people didn't understand me.”
Last year, Smith won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Unholy,” his collaboration with Kim Petras. The historic feat made Smith the first openly non-binary artist to win a Grammy Award and Petras the first openly transgender artist to win a major Grammy award.
Later this summer, Smith will be released In The Lonely Hour 10 Year Anniversary Edition. The album will be released on August 2nd and features the 10 original songs from the record along with a new track, “Little Sailor”. A collector's edition of the reissue will also be available as four vinyl LPs or a double CD and will feature live versions of the album's original songs and collaborations with Mary J. Blige, A$AP Rocky and John Legend.
“This year marks a decade since the release of my debut album,” Smith wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I feel so incredibly lucky to be celebrating this milestone with you. My team and I have created this beautiful anniversary edition for all of us for the last 10 years. Today is just the beginning Sailors, we have so much to celebrate with you between now and August. I can't wait to look at 'In The Lonely Hour' together.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sam-smith-stay-with-me-rerecording-1235057077/
