Sam Smith Releases HAZEL EYES Album, Single "Constant Companion"

Sam Smith has released Hazel Eyes, their fifth studio album, out now via Capitol Records. The album transforms a real-time love story into what is described as a visionary meditation on what it means to live with an unguarded heart. With Smith embracing the role of co-producer for the first time — and working with the same collaborators across a project for the first time — the artist has made their most emotionally direct and daring work yet, soundtracked by a mix of genres including baroque pop, British folk, outlaw country, and left-field R&B.

'In many ways, this album brought me closer to myself than I've ever been,' says Smith. 'It taught me to embrace what comes naturally to me as an artist and honor the music I love most, which is timeless pop that connects with people from all walks of life. It also showed me that 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.'

Smith's new single 'Constant Companion' unfolds with all the danger and intrigue of a classic Western film, setting the artist's low-slung vocals against a sprawl of dusky guitar work and sweeping strings courtesy of Rob Moose (Bon Iver, The National). The song is a ride-or-die love story of cinematic scope, finding its hero pledging loyalty to their partner in crime: 'I can be the razor in your hat, you can be the blade that's got my back / And when the good old darkness comes, I will keep you safe within my arms.'

Filmed in Spain by director Albert Moya with choreography by (LA)HORDE, the accompanying video brings the song's world to life, following the misadventures and intimate moments of Smith and a lover through dusty plains and frontier outposts.

A labor of love three years in the making, Hazel Eyes emerged as Smith navigated a time of monumental change, including falling in love and moving to New York City from their homeland of England. Following their 2023 album Gloria (featuring the global smash single 'Unholy' with Kim Petras), Smith connected with co-producers Simon Aldred (Avicii, Liam Gallagher) and David Odlum (Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter) in search of an organic approach and sound rooted in their real-life story and the beauty of collaboration. They worked in spaces like New York City's Electric Lady Studios with a close circle of contributors, including indie-pop artist Feist, the multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (Damien Rice, Yoko Ono), Moose, and, among others, the 28-member TwoCity Chorus vocal collective.

The result is a deliberately earthbound yet endlessly enchanting sound coursing through a narrative arc that begins on the eve of falling in love (with the opener 'Everlasting Love') and continues through the first few years of a relationship. Named for the most forthright love song Smith has ever written, Hazel Eyes illuminates the way toward a life defined by trust in joy, devotion without armor, and radical sincerity.

The album was preceded by the singles 'When He's Gone,' a moving exploration of the fear of losing your person that Rolling Stone hailed as a 'bluesy lament' and Billboard deemed 'perfectly haunting'; 'Oh Mother,' which builds to a spellbinding call-and-response between Smith and TwoCity, whose harmonies blaze with a feverish intensity; and 'My Guy,' a romantic track released alongside a music video that doubled as a portrait of Smith's own domestic bliss. 'My Guy' won reviews from the likes of SPIN, who called it 'a buoyant celebration of fully requited love' with harmonies from Feist and Moses Sumney 'adding a playful, girl-group-inspired flourish to its lovestruck sentiment.' CBS News Sunday Morning declared ''My Guy' [is] a step forward from LGBTQ love songs being marginalized' and 'a hit-worthy ballad where one little repeated noun makes a big advancement — revolution has never sounded so gentle.' The album also includes the previously released piano ballad 'Love Is A Stillness' and the soaring, deeply soulful denouement 'To Be Free,' praised by Stereogum for spotlighting Smith's 'immensely powerful voice.'

Following Smith's recent The New York Times' Sunday Arts & Leisure section cover story, the artist sat down for a New Yorker Radio Hour interview that shed more light on the open-hearted creative origins and personal inspirations behind their fifth studio album. Smith also spoke with The Guardian, and has been sharing the stories behind individual songs on social media.

Hazel Eyes arrives as Smith continues their To Be Free global residency, which kicked off last fall at Brooklyn's Warsaw inspired by the intimacy of the music taking shape on the album. After reopening San Francisco's historic Castro Theatre earlier this year, the residency reached Mexico this month and heads to the UK in September. Smith's homecoming run will include two nights at Manchester's Albert Hall and eight nights at the London Coliseum. Along the way, the series has featured surprise appearances from Hozier, Ed SHeeran, Brandi Carlile, Sienna Spiro, Norah Jones and Kim Petras.

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'

Sam Smith Live Dates

Aug 21 – Mexico City, MX @ National Auditorium

Sep 03 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall

Sep 04 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall

Sep 08 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 09 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 11 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 12 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 15 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 16 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 18 – London, UK @ Coliseum

Sep 19 – London, UK @ Coliseum

About Sam Smith

Sam Smith is one of the most celebrated musical artists in recent history. A five-time GRAMMY winner, Sam holds two Guinness World Records — for the most consecutive weeks in the U.K. Top 10 Album Chart (for their 2014 debut, In the Lonely Hour) and for having the first James Bond theme to reach No.1 on the U.K. charts (for the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning 'Writing's On the Wall'). Sam has amassed over 64 million equivalent album sales, 396 million single sales, and over 57 billion career streams across their catalog of critically acclaimed albums: In the Lonely Hour, The Thrill of It All, Love Goes, and Gloria, which Rolling Stone praised as 'their deepest album yet,' and includes the global smash single 'Unholy' ft. Kim Petras. 'Unholy' spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks at No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, marking Sam's eighth to top the tally.

In June 2025, Sam released their live album BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. In July 2025, they returned with 'To Be Free,' a soulful acoustic song exploring how vulnerability can unlock bravery and freedom, earning critical praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone ('Sam Smith feels light as a feather'), Billboard ('one of their most striking songs in years'), and Stereogum ('heart string-pulling … immensely powerful'), among others. Sam's fifth studio album Hazel Eyes is out now.

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