This track is directed to anyone who has forfeited the right to have their words taken seriously. Smith even manages to work a little humor onto In The Lonely Hour with the hit “La La La.” The track features a recording of a little kid singing “la la la” in a loop, and is Smith’s take on what people do when they’ve stop listening to someone. “Restart” is a percussive and funky Michael Jackson styled tune that finds Smith getting over the pain despite a former lover’s attempt to turn the page back. Smith proves he’s perfectly capable of making a dance tune and shaking of the blues of having his heart broken. “ I’d never ask you/cuz deep down/I’m certain I know what you say/ You’d say I’m sorry/believe me love you/but not in that way.” That person does not feel the same way, but you have to respect the honesty comes through in the tune’s hook. There is just Smith and the person he loves romantically. “Not In That Way” is another acoustic gem that tells a story of unrequited love in which there is no villain. “ I don’t have much to give but I don’t care for gold/What use is money when you need someone to hold/Don’t have direction I’m just rolling down this road/waiting for you to bring me in out the cold/” “Leave Your Lover” is an intimate piece of salesmanship in which the story told in this tune is obvious. Smith’s wide ranging tenor is the definition of honest emotion and vulnerability, and so those simple tracks featuring acoustic guitars or piano and percussion draw the listener in. That probably explains the album’s title. The album sounds like something a person might play in at those times when anticipation turns to disappointment or when a bunch of thoughts that are best worked out alone fill the mind. Smith’s arrangements are more intimate and sparse in most cases. Adele’s 21 sported a bevy of tunes that featured bombastic orchestration – tracks such as “Rolling in the Deep” and “Rumor Has It” come to mind. There is one big difference between Smith and Adele. Like Adele, Smith is a British singer who took the world by storm with powerful vocals and this passionate yet clear eyed and self-aware lyricism. That explains why several musical pundits have compared Smith to Adele. Smith is the kind of vocalist who wears his desires and insecurities on his sleeve, and those emotions come out through his vocals. While listeners won’t hear “I Wanna Know” on In The Lonely Hour, Smith’s arrangement of that song perfectly captures the pensiveness and the longing that characterizes the album’s mood. Backed by a keyboard, Smith transforms a dance song into a torchy ballad.
Smith covers Whitney Houston's “How Will I Know,” and he comes as close to owning a Whitney Houston tune as can be possibly expected. It’s a testament to Sam Smith’s talent, as well as his haunting and emotive vocals that the video currently going viral features him singing a song that is not on his very good album, In The Lonely Hour.
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