At the much-loved Greenwich Village gay bar Julius, a modest crowd of patrons huddled around the decades-old band, enjoying refreshments and song styles ranging from late '70s disco hits to Lizzo and Dua Lipa. They exchanged phone numbers, flirted, laughed at jokes. All in all, a pretty standard night out at the local pub.
That is, until Sam Smith kneed through the bar.
Dressed in a Julius top with a studded belt, plaid skirt and a pair of platform heels, Smith graciously greeted their guests on Thursday afternoon (June 13), thanking them for joining this special occasion – a celebration of their debut studio album, In Lonely Hour.
Released at the end of May 2014, Lonely Hour became a cultural phenomenon, propelling Smith from relative obscurity to near-instant star status in a matter of months. The album dominated the Billboard 200 (it debuted at No. 2 and remained on the chart for 372 weeks), spawned three Hot 100 top 10 singles (“Stay With Me,” “I'm Not the Only One” and “Lay Me Down”) and won Smith four Grammys (Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal album).
To commemorate their latest discovery milestone, Smith threw a full-on karaoke party at Julius in honor of their debut LP. With performances ranging from Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” to Carrie Underwood's “Before He Cheats” to Beyoncé's “Texas Hold 'Em,” attendees worked the front of the bar while drag icon Lady Bunny served as the evening's emcee. “So far we only have one participant and me I know you don't want me to get up and sing,” Bunny spoke early in the evening. “I'm not singing in the same room as Sam Smith!”
Bunny also served as the night's DJ, though she underestimated her own abilities after a patron's rendition of Natasha Bedingfield's “Unwritten.” “I'm as good at DJing as I am at singing,” she said with a laugh. But the New York icon proved herself wrong in a lengthy set, seamlessly weaving in modern hits and classic disco gems, carefully curating her performance to keep the mood soaring.
“I'm obsessed with Lady Bunny,” Smith told a partygoer at one point as they danced along to TLC's “No Scrubs.”
By 11 p.m., Julius was packed with just over a hundred fancy-dressed patrons. Stars such as Dylan Mulvaney and Kim Petras were spotted entering the bar and cheerfully greeting Smith, while other patrons sipped specialty cocktails such as the 'Life Support' margarita or the cosmopolitan 'Good Thing'.
Bunny then announced the night's performer as Sam Smith made their way onto a makeshift stage at the back of the bar alongside R&B icon Alicia Keys. As the crowd roared for the pair, Smith humbly thanked them for coming before turning to his duet partner. “Thank you Alicia Keys. This is a dream come true,” they said.
“That's amazing,” he said with a smile. “Can you believe we've never done this before? Except now? This is crazy!”
Opening with Smith's heartbreaking anthem 'I'm Not the Only One', the pair exchanged verses as the eager crowd sang along to the song's soulful chorus. By the time they reached the track's tender finale, the two had joined forces with some eerie harmonizing on the closing track 'and I know, and I know, and I know, and I know', much to the crowd's delight.
Bunny put it best as the show came to a close. “Look at this, the queens of New York,” he said. “Give it up for both of us!”
Watch a clip of Sam Smith and Alicia Keys performing “I'm Not the Only One” below:
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/sam-smith-in-the-lonely-hour-anniversary-party-alicia-keys-1235709914/
