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In the Lonely Hour 2014
Album · by Sam Smith ↗ View artist

In the Lonely Hour

This album was born from a heartbreak that the artist turned into raw material. In the Lonely Hour was recorded between late 2012 and early 2014 at RAK Studios in London, with a team of producers that included names like Jimmy Napes, Fraser T. Smith, and Eg White. The sound they crafted blends pop, soul, and R&B, but without the excessive polish of mainstream production at the time: there’s room for Sam Smith’s voice to breathe between the arrangements, as if each note sought to mimic the rawness of a confession. The result wasn’t meant to be a massive hit, but an honest reflection of a personal moment. The artist himself described it as the diary of a 21-year-old trapped in the loneliness of unrequited love, where each song serves as a fragment of that story.

Year
2014
Songs
1
Duration
3 min 30 seg
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About the album

In the Lonely Hour, according to DoReSol

Three tracks stand out for their immediate impact. Stay with Me soared to the top of the UK charts and climbed into the top positions in over twenty countries, including second place in the United States. Money on My Mind repeated the number one spot in the UK, while I'm Not the Only One reached third place there and fifth in the U.S. The standard edition of the album includes ten songs, but the *deluxe* version adds five extra tracks, such as a solo acoustic version of Latch —originally by Disclosure— and La La La by Naughty Boy, where Smith contributed backing vocals. In interviews, the singer mentioned that Good Thing was the most personal song on the album, the one where he poured his own vulnerability most clearly.

The album not only sold millions of copies —it was the second best-selling album in the UK in 2014 and the third in the United States that same year— but also earned nominations at the Grammy and Brit Awards. It won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2015 Grammys, though it lost Album of the Year to Morning Phase by Beck. In 2015, a reissue titled In the Lonely Hour (Drowning Shadows Edition) was released, which incorporated twelve new songs, such as Omen alongside Disclosure and a cover of Love Is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse, recorded for Comic Relief. The essence of the album, however, remains the same: a collection of songs where sorrow feels as real as the rhythm that carries it.